Koma Ceramic Funerary Figure, Based

A wide grin, a flat open crown and a fringed chin that juts out like a shelf.

This based funerary figure is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa, and dates to the 13th to 17th century. It is terra cotta. The Koma-Bulsa culture left no written record, so much of what is said about these figures, including their funerary role, rests on where they were found. The head is broad and flat-topped, open at the crown, with heavy-lidded eyes, a wide nose and lips pressed into a long smile. Beneath the chin, a ledge of clay is incised with vertical lines, and a narrower column continues below. It is 8 inches high, 3 wide and 3 deep.

Clearly pleased about something.