Koma Ceramic Funerary Figure, Based

A face that keeps going well past where the chin ought to stop.

This funerary figure is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa, and dates to the 13th to 17th century. It is terra cotta, mounted on a base. Koma terra cottas are known from excavated mound sites and are usually taken to be linked to burial and remembrance, though much about them remains uncertain. The reddish clay is pitted and rough. Ringed eyes sit high under a flat brow, and the mouth is a stack of thick, ridged lips above a long, tapering chin. A slim metal rod holds it upright. It is 7.25 inches high and 2.5 wide.

Serious, but not unfriendly about it.