Koma Ceramic Funerary Figure

Eyes like targets and a mouth wide open, as if the joke has just landed.

This funerary figure is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa, and dates to the 13th to 17th century. It is terra cotta. The Koma style ranges from simple cylinders with a few applied features to elaborate seated and mounted figures. This head is rounded, with a crest rising along the top and a band of small marks across the brow. Two large concentric rings form the eyes, set over a broad nose and a wide, open mouth with a heavy lower lip. The clay is pale buff with patches of orange. It is 4.25 inches high and 2.75 wide.

Hard to look at without smiling back.