Grave Marker
Unknown Artist
3rd–11th century
Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
Height 31-1/2 inches
Classification
Ceramics-Sculpture
Culture
Bura peoples
Department
Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Jerome Vogel, 1998
Accession Number
1998.478.2
Art Historical Context
This evocative terracotta grave marker, created by an unknown artist of the Bura peoples between the 3rd and 11th centuries, stands 31-1/2 inches tall and exemplifies ancient West African ceramic sculpture. Now in the Museum of Art's Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas—thanks to a 1998 gift from Jerome Vogel—it reflects the Bura's mastery of fired clay, a durable medium that allowed for monumental yet portable funerary art. For the Bura culture, flourishing in the Sahel region of West Africa, such markers held profound spiritual significance. Placed atop graves, they likel...