Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure

Bearded, patterned and combed at the fringe, with a diamond-shaped stare.

This Koma terra cotta funerary figure is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa. Hand-modeled from fired clay, Koma figures often show stylized faces, bodies and ornaments, and their surfaces record the pinching, coiling and incising used by the potters. Rectangular in form, a head with crosshatched marks across the brow and framing the eyes. A zigzag mouth sits above a ridged, beard-like panel that runs down the lower face. The surface is a worn, earthy brown with a rough, chipped base. It is 1.5 inches wide, 1.5 deep and 3.75 high.

Meticulous with the stitching, careless about the weather.