Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure, Based

The eyes bulge. The lips stack. The rope band around the rim is notched like a bit of braid.

This terra cotta funerary head was made by the Koma people of northern Ghana between the 13th and 17th centuries. Figures from Koma mounds are associated with commemoration of the dead, and potters there worked in a lively, individual style. The tapering form has an open top encircled by that notched band. Below the wide, full lips, the body narrows into a smooth, slightly flattened stem. Warm brick-red clay, pitted, with darker patches.

Five and a quarter inches, on a black stand. Not a shy one.