Description:

Africa, Niger River Valley, Bura Asinda-Sikka culture, ca. 3rd to 11th century CE. A very heavy terracotta head with a pronounced long nose, applied ears with perforations, slightly parted lips, and impressed marks suggesting a coiffure from a funerary phallic form urn created by the Bura-Asinda-Sikka culture along the lower Niger River valley in Niger and Burkina Faso. Ceramic forms like this example have been found upside down in graves, buried with their openings faced downwards, filled with belongings (cloth remnants and other objects), teeth, and some bones of the deceased. This traditional ritual demonstrates the Bura-Asinda-Sikka people's belief in the continuation of fruitfulness from birth to life to death to rebirth. Examples like this were initially discovered in 1975, many by farmers who were preparing their fields. Hence many Bura-Asinda-Sikka urns were accidentally broken by shovels before serious archaeological excavations began in 1983. Size: 5.25" W x 9.25" H (13.3 cm x 23.5 cm)

Provenance: Ex Peter Arnovick Collection, Los Altos CA

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#112161

  • Condition: Inside is very tightly compacted earth and debris from broken hollow-ware figures which has solidified into an equally dense and hard material that can easily be mistaken for fired clay.

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February 16, 2016 8:00 AM MST
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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