Koma Funerary Figure of Offering Basket

Pointed little vessel that clearly never expected to stand up on its own.

This Koma terra cotta funerary figure with an offering basket is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa. Figures that carry or hold baskets and vessels appear in the clay sculpture of several West African peoples, and they may be read as gestures of offering or provision. Tapering cone with a rounded tip, a band of pinched, rope-like ridges around the shoulder, and a short loop handle rising at the mouth. The surface is rough and earthy, in dusty orange-brown with pitted patches. It is 2 inches wide, 1 deep and 3.25 high.

Built to hang around, and it has the posture for it.