Kotoko Bronze Equestrian Figure

Craggy, bumpy, and glittering gold, with a rider hanging on near one end

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. Perched off-center, a small figure in a rolled cap sits off-center on a horse with a high, hooked neck and stubby legs. A round boss sits at the saddle. The surface is pitted and encrusted, with bright gold glimmering through dark deposits. It is 2.5 inches wide, 0.75 deep and 2.5 high.

It looks like it has seen some things, none of them gentle.