Fragment of the face of an ancient votive or commemorative statue. It features a ring-shaped nasal ornament and what appears to be a moustache, a large arched eyebrow adorned with zig-zag engravings overhangs its left eye, the upper eyelid of which is engraved, and its mouth, with its smooth slip, reveals its teeth. Despite the extent of its missing parts, this superb fragment, not to say this "fragment of the sublime", calls out to us with its gaze. Its presence, its strength, as Georges Ortiz so aptly put it when speaking to Jean Roudillon at their last luncheon: "she is". Nok culture, 650 B.C. to 350 A.D., Northern Nigeria Earthenware, one moustache slightly missing, beautiful old slip. H. 19 cm See : Naissance de l'Art en Afrique Noire La Statuaire Nok au Nigéria, B. de Grunne, Ed Adam Biro 2001 Provenance : Jean Roudillon Collection