Bura Terracotta Funerary Burkina Faso

Overall Condition: Good. Most of our pieces have spent decades on at least two continents, and have been treasured by several owners.   Small splits, scrapes and cracks are a normal part of their patina attesting to their age and extensive use.  We examine each piece carefully when we receive it and report any damage we find in our listings.  Please look carefully at the pictures which may also reveal condition and damage.

Damage/Repair: Pitting, chips, dirt, and general wear.

Terracotta Bura Funerary Fragment Burkina Faso, Niger 

This terracotta piece is close to these found on Bura terracotta grave markers. The Bura People live in Burkina Faso and Niger. They are well-known for their stunning terracotta found in burials and  with dates range between  the 3rd and the 11th centuries. We don't know the age of the offered piece. We assume it is from a more recent period. We have not had this thermoluminescence tested  . Some Bura funeral terracotta  could be large, nearly two feet in height in the shape of an elongated cone figural or abstract. These funeral objects were created as though one would shape a pot, tapering it to the head and adding the various surfaces embellishments.  Works such as this tell us of the long standing role of art in African society in as much as the art of the potter far outlasts the art of the woodcarver as wood sculpture is victim to breakage due to use, fire and the ever present termite. Therefore these terracotta sculptures mark rituals no longer practiced and art forms now long forgotten.