Rare, Complete Bura Bottle Figure

Art and artifacts identified with the Bura archeological sites date from the 3rd to 11th centuries, during a period in which Sahelian societies experienced momentous change. Islam was introduced to West Africa in the 7th and 8th centuries, hand in hand with the introduction of the camel and the development of trans-Saharan trade routes. The spread of Islam, however, was gradual and at time involved violent conquest. There can be little doubt that the Bura at some point came under pressure from the seismic changes that came with conversion from traditional belief systems to what is practiced in the same region today. Surviving Bura terracotta vessels are often utilitarian, but most of those known to the art market have been ritual vessels. According to Boubé Gado (1944-2015), head of the Department of Art and Archaeology (IRSH), Niamey, and as related by Michelle Gilbert, these vessels were uncovered from the Bura necropolis — “groups of pots covering several hundred square meters were found associated with burials: the archaeological excavation (25 x 20 meters in size) exposed 630 funerary urns placed upside down and close together. There were twice as many tubular urns as semi-ovoid ones.” This example is a rare, complete and unrestored example of a Bura bottle figure. Closed at both ends, it is a synthesis of the globular and ovoid types described by Gado. In the market, Bura heads far outnumber figure fragments, figures, vessels. This is because Bura artists typically formed hollow, inverted pot forms first and then added the solid-form heads. Ultimately, the heads proved more durable than the hollow structures below them. Shattered vessels and vessel fragments were often left behind, although some were cobbled together and marketed. This is beautifully intact specimen of a usual Bura form. It is guaranteed to be as described: ancient and intact. It is presented securely mounted on a hardwood base dating to the 1990s.

15″

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