Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure

Wide open mouth, heavy brows, and three and a half inches of patience.

The Koma people of northern Ghana modeled this small terra cotta funerary figure between the 13th and 17th centuries. Figures of this kind have been recovered from mounds in the Koma region, where they are thought to have played a part in funerary practice.

A broad nose. Heavy lobed brows. A coiled roll of clay wraps the neck, and short arms bring the hands to a rounded belly. The coarse, gritty clay is a warm reddish tone, worn soft by centuries in the earth.

It has outlasted the neighbors.