Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure, Based

A flat cap, a band of hatching, and a mouth that says everything at once.

Koma figures are recognizable by their bold, simplified faces and emphatic lips, and this terra cotta head, made between the 13th and 17th centuries in northern Ghana, belongs to the group recovered from mound sites in the Koma region.

The cap is edged with incised hatching. Round eyes with central pupils, small ears, a wide protruding mouth. Below, the form tapers into a long conical neck or body. Seven inches tall, pale sandy buff, lightly eroded, mounted on a slim black stand.

It speaks plainly. Listen.