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Torso of an Equestrian

Bura-Asinda-Sikka

3rd–11th century, excavated 1985

Not on view

Between the third and tenth centuries, the dead were laid to rest at a site in present-day Niger downstream from the Inland Niger delta. The burial ground’s density and expanse suggest a veritable city of the departed. Several hundred individual graves were marked by upturned pottery urns, some of which were cylinders topped by figurative imagery such as this torso. The most elaborate of these were full-bodied equestrians, while the most basic were highly abstract, independent heads.

Torso of an Equestrian, Terracotta, Bura-Asinda-Sikka — Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Torso of an Equestrian

Date: 3rd–11th century, excavated 1985

Geography: Niger, Bura Region

Culture: Bura-Asinda-Sikka

Medium: Terracotta

Dimensions: H. 12 × W. 5 15/16 × D. 7 1/16 in. (30.5 × 15.1 × 18 cm)

Classification: Ceramics-Sculpture

Credit Line: Institut de Recherches en Sciences Humaines, Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey, Niger

Accession Number: SL.3.2020.22.1a, b

The Met

The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Met

The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.