Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure, Based

Eight inches of pinkish clay on a slim rod. The mound it came from would be in northern Ghana.

Koma figures were found in large numbers in burial mounds there, and scholars generally associate them with funerary rites and ancestors. This terra cotta head and torso dates to the 13th to 17th centuries and has a strong, compact face: round eyes, a broad nose, an open mouth framed by thick lips, a small crest on the crown. Diagonal incised lines on the torso gather in a chevron pattern.

Darker smudges mark the clay, along with wear.

Some faces keep their own counsel.