Koma Ceramic Funerary Figure, Based

A jutting mouth like a beak, and a necklace that has seen some weather.

This funerary figure is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa, and dates to the 13th to 17th century. It is terra cotta, mounted on a base. Koma makers often handled the human form with free invention, pushing noses, mouths and jewelry far beyond natural proportion. Here a narrow head with small eyes ends in a large protruding mouth that sweeps forward like a beak. Below it, the columnar body carries an applied necklace with a dangling pendant and small knobs. Pale deposits fill the hollows. It stands on a black metal rod and base, 10.5 inches high.

Restraint was not on the agenda, and the figure is better for it.