Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure, Based

The Koma left their faces in the earth of northern Ghana, and the earth kept them.

Many Koma figures were found at mound sites in the north of the country, and they are thought to have played a part in rites connected with the dead. This one, made between the 13th and 17th centuries, is a small terra cotta head and torso. The face is full of expression: two bulging round eyes, a broad nose and wide, thick lips, with a small raised crest running over the crown. The torso narrows to a point and carries faint incised lines.

The gray-brown clay is weathered and lightly encrusted. Six inches high.

Not large. Not easy to ignore.