Koma Ceramic Funerary Figure, Based

Big round eyes and puffed lips sit atop a long, flaring column of clay.

This funerary figure is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa, dates to the 13th – 17th century, and is terra cotta, presented on a base. The Koma terra cottas are generally associated with burial mounds and with remembering the dead, though much about them is still uncertain. Here an expressive head with ringed eyes, a broad nose and full open lips crowns a tall, tapering cone. A notched collar marks the neck, and a pointed beard falls below the mouth. The surface is rough and reddish brown. It is 3 inches wide, 3 deep and 8 high.

Old as it is, the face still looks surprised to be here.