Kotoko Bronze Equestrian Figure

Two passengers and a hooked horse head, all balanced on spiky legs

This equestrian figure is Kotoko, from Chad, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is bronze. Bronze figures are generally made by the lost-wax method, in which a wax model is covered in clay, melted out and replaced with molten metal. Two figures with tiered, tapering headdresses sit shoulder to shoulder, one holding a slim pipe-like rod. The horse's neck ends in a bird-beak curve. Ridged bands wrap the body, and the pointed legs gleam where handled. It is 2 inches wide, 1 deep and 2.5 high.

Cheerfully overloaded and not about to renegotiate.