Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure, Based

A cone, a spout, a face. Somebody in northern Ghana had a clear idea of a bottle.

Koma artisans modeled this terra cotta head between the 13th and 17th centuries. Such figures are known from mounds across the Koma-Bulsa area and widely associated with commemorating the dead. The head rises into a tall tapering cone that ends in a small open spout. Beneath, rounded oval eyes sit in raised rims above a short nose and parted lips, and a beard with a beaded border frames the jaw. The orange-red clay is granular and lightly abraded.

Eight inches, on a black metal stand. It stands out in a crowd of one.