A superb terracotta head with closed eyelids, fragment of a sculpture usually seated on an urn. It bears a lip plate still visible on the upper lip, despite slight erosion due to alluvial deposits, and two circular ornaments placed asymmetrically on the left side of its finely striated hairstyle. Its serene and contemplative presence, its modeling, its iconography, and the volume and curve of its skull undoubtedly make this work one of the most beautiful heads of Katsina art discovered to date. See: for reference works, Earth and Ore, Schaedler, 1997, fig. 373, p. 202 and fig. 411, p. 212 Katsina art, Nigeria Date: 150 BC to 250 AD Thermoluminescence test, Ciram. Ref.: 0112-OA-30B-2 Terracotta, restoration of a large crack that ran horizontally across the head (see photos published before restoration in the TL test and its publication in Dinka, as well as a scan made in 2017 which confirms that no additions have been made), visible break at the base, very beautiful ochre slip. H.: 18 cm Provenance: Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels David Henrion Collection, Brussels Publications and exhibitions: Grunne (de), Dinka, 2019, p. 27, fig. 17