Stone & Terra Cotta

Shaped from earth, or dug out of it, and sometimes both. Antique stone and terra cotta come from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, much of it earth-born and some of it very old. Koma figurative heads from northern Ghana, Bura funerary vessels from Niger, Djenne figures from the inland delta of Mali and Mambila and Bamenda pottery from Cameroon stand with the Zulu ukhamba, the coil-built, burnished black vessel in which sorghum beer is offered to the ancestors. From Asia come archaic Chinese bi discs in jade and stone, heads of Buddha from Java and India, kendi water vessels, Narmada River lingams and trade ceramics raised from Java Sea shipwrecks, including funnel-form jars that once carried mercury. The Sepik River of Papua New Guinea gives Sawos kamana sago bowls, and the Indian kitchen the heavy stone kharal for grinding chutney.

Weight, and a dry, chalky surface. A Koma head against a limewashed wall needs nothing else.