Gentlemen.

This figure seems to represent a remarkable given his dress. The horse played an important role in the Empires of Wagadu, Mali and Songay, so it is not surprising that numerous specimens have appeared. Both the horse and the knight appear richly decorated in the figure we are dealing with. The gentleman's head is so-called Djenne style. Curiously, the gentleman seems older than his mount and his feet reach to the ground. Earthly and whitish patina, with some breaks that allow to glimpse a mud made with laterite, earthy material that occupies the soil of almost the entire African west.

In reality all the statues attributed to Djenné come from the entire Niger delta, mainly from the regions of Segu, Mopti and Djenné, but they have been attributed to Djenné for being the city closest to the archaeological site of Djenné-Jeno. They appear to be the work of the Soninké founders of the Mandingo Empire of Mali, although it is risky to attribute these works to a single ethnic group.There are numerous statues of knights appearing for several centuries, the most important being those of the centuries XII a XVI, in the inner delta of the Niger River, known interchangeably as Djenné or Djenné Jenno. The word Djenné is quoted as if it were an ethnic group, when in reality it is the city around which this artistic culture developed. The ethnic groups that populated this area of the Niger's inner delta were the Songhai, Sarakolé, Peul, Bozo or BambaraThese sculptural manifestations prove once again the importance that the horse has had for centuries in the territory that corresponds to today's Mali. Although the horse has not been considered a sacred animal, it has always enjoyed special care and attention. It is, par excellence, the animal that confers a high rank to its owner. Usually in these statues there is an excess of ornamentation both in the knight and in his mount.

The rider's face in this figure shows the characteristics of Djenne art. It carries a kind of carcaj on the back, but without bow, so it is difficult to define whether it is an archer or a messenger with his porta-rollos. His legs reach to the ground, something common in the African equestrian statuery. Both gentlemen and mounts are richly decorated.

Without a thermoluminescence analysis it is impossible to specify the dating of this object that by smell, in the wet soil test, appears to have been buried.