Koma Janiform Funerary Figure

Star-shaped on top, like a hand-sized crown with a single knob in its middle.

This Koma terra cotta janiform funerary figure is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa. A janiform composition lets a sculptor treat a figure as a form in the round with no single front, so that it reads differently from each side. Warm orange body that spreads into a flat, pointed top with three horn-like points around a round, central bump. A braided band wraps the waist, and the lower end narrows to a rough, blunt tip. It is 3 inches wide, 1.5 deep and 4 high.

Spiky and cheerful, with a nub at the center for good measure.