Koma Ceramic Funerary Figure, Based

A headband, a beard of incised lines and a necklace worn high and proud.

This funerary figure is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa, and dates to the 13th – 17th C. It is terra cotta, mounted on a base. Koma figures come from burial mounds in northern Ghana and are generally associated with commemoration of the dead, though scholars remain cautious about their exact meaning. The squared head has a notched band across the brow, large lidded eyes and a mouth framed by short vertical strokes. A ridged collar circles the neck, and the tapering body below carries two round raised forms. The clay is a bright orange-red. It is 3 inches wide, 2 deep and 7.5 high.

Dressed for an occasion that lasted several centuries.