Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure

Two circle eyes and a stamped brow peer out from a rusty cone.

This Koma terra cotta funerary figure is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa. Funerary figures in many African traditions are generally linked with remembrance of the dead and with family ties to ancestors, though meanings differ widely from one community to the next. Narrow cone with a ragged, open top and a band of short vertical marks across the forehead. Ringed eyes sit close together over a faint nose. The surface is a rough, speckled orange-brown with scattered flaking. It is 1.5 inches wide, 0.5 deep and 3.25 high.

Minimal on features, maximal on side-eye.