Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure

Mouth agape and arms held at its sides, standing like a very surprised post.

This Koma terra cotta funerary figure is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa. Terra cotta is simply fired earthenware, and in West Africa it has been shaped into figures and vessels for well over a thousand years. Slim, upright body with a raised head, an open round mouth and a narrow nose. Thin arms are shaped against the sides of the column. The surface is dark orange-brown, rough and gritty, ending at a broken, uneven base. It is 1 inches wide, 1.5 deep and 4.1 high.

All of its energy has gone into that one astonished mouth.