Koma Ceramic Funerary Figure, Based

Eyes outlined like a pair of lemons, and a lower lip that sticks out with real conviction.

This funerary figure, based, is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa, and dates to the 13th to 17th century. It is terra cotta. Koma figures were made over several centuries, and the variety among them suggests many hands rather than a single workshop. Here the eyes are pointed ovals ringed in raised clay, with a pellet at each center. A broad upper lip sits over a jutting lower lip that extends almost like a tongue. The head is squared at the top, and a long post of reddish clay continues below. It is 8 inches high, 3 deep and 2.25 wide.

Making a point, and making it firmly.