Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure, Based

Hollow at the top, notched at the rim. A cone with a beard.

The Koma people of Ghana made this terra cotta figure between the 13th and 17th centuries. Koma figures, discovered in burial mounds in northern Ghana, are widely associated with funerary practice. Oval eyes are applied in low relief above a long nose, and a small mouth sits over a beard rendered in fine incised lines that taper down the chin.

The pale buff clay is dry and granular. Seven and a half inches.

The beard, at least, has aged well.