Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure, Based

Enormous rimmed eyes, stacked lips, a hatched beard. A tube of clay with a great deal on its mind.

A Koma figure from northern Ghana, 13th to 17th century. Such terracottas, excavated from mounds in the north, are generally associated with funerary rites, and many take this compact, cylindrical form. The hollow body is topped by a head with a notched headband. Small holes are pierced at the ear and nostril. A band near the base suggests a waist or garment. The gray-brown surface is rough and mineral-flecked. Six and a quarter inches.

Compact. Opinionated. Hollow, but not empty.