Koma Ceramic Funerary Figure

Head tipped back, mouth wide open, as if mid-song or mid-objection.

This funerary figure is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa, and dates to the 13th to 17th century. It is terra cotta. Koma terracottas have been recovered from burial mounds in northern Ghana and are generally thought to have played a part in funerary practice, though their exact meaning is still debated. This one is a head on a short, thick neck, tilted upward. The eyes are rounded lids, the ears are coiled knobs, and the jaw juts forward beneath an open mouth. The surface is weathered and earthen brown. It is 5.5 inches high.

A face caught permanently mid-sentence.