Koma Ceramic Funerary Figure, Based

The mouth is wide open, and the expression suggests it has a great deal to say.

This funerary figure, based, is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa, and dates to the 13th to 17th century. It is terra cotta. Koma figures are known mainly from excavated burial mounds, and much about their purpose is still debated. The head rises to a pointed crest ringed with small pellets, with bulging eyes and a deep, gaping mouth. Below, a rounded chest is incised with a lattice of crossing lines. The fragment is mounted on a slim rod above a square base, and measures 2 inches wide, 2 deep and 5.5 high.

Mid-sentence for several hundred years, and still holding the thought.