Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure

Pale and elongated, with a banded brow and a chin that goes on and on.

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. Smooth and cream-toned, a head with a coiled band at the brow, almond eyes, a raised nose and a small, closed mouth. The lower face stretches into a long, rounded cone, with a thin metal ring holding it upright on a black base. It is 2 inches wide, 2.25 deep and 5.75 high.

Elegance by way of an extremely generous jawline.