Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure, Based

The head and the body are one column, and the column was hatched all over by hand.

This terra cotta funerary figure comes from the Koma people of northern Ghana and dates to the 13th to 17th centuries. Many Koma figures were recovered from mounds in the area and are understood to be connected with burial customs. The open top is ringed with a band of hatched marks. Below it, ringed eyes and a short mouth in a narrow face. A collar of incised hatching suggests a beard or neck ornament, and the body is textured with fine crosshatching. Reddish clay, worn and earthy.

Eight and a quarter inches on a rod mount. Patient as a post.