14th C. Ghana Koma Terracotta Head – Long Pointed Beard (Auction 2026-06-05, Lot 149)

$257.00

West Africa, Ghana, Komaland (Moagduri District), Koma tradition, ca. 14th to 17th century CE. A striking Koma terracotta head modeled with a commanding face and an elongated pointed beard, rising from a tall cylindrical neck in the classic Komaland format. The features are strongly stylized, with pronounced eyes, layered lips, and a patterned brow or coiffure that gives the visage a rhythmic, almost architectural structure. Koma sculpture is associated with a roughly 100 km by 100 km area in what is now Ghana’s North East Region, and its discovery has dramatically broadened the study of West African art. Yet the tradition remains difficult to contextualize historically, and attempts to connect the present-day inhabitants of Komaland to the makers of these figures remain largely hypothetical. Size: 3.6″ L x 2.2″ W x 6.2″ H (9.1 cm x 5.6 cm x 15.7 cm)

Before scientific excavations began in the 1980s and again in the 2000s, local communities encountered such works while digging soil for building, calling them kronkronballi (“children from an old-time”). Comparable in cultural weight to the terracotta traditions of Nok and Ife, Sao, and the Inland Niger Delta, Koma heads like this one endure as compelling fragments of a complex civilization, preserved in clay and still only partly understood.

Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection; ex-private Los Angeles, California, USA collection; ex-major gallery, Beverly Hills, California, USA, primarily acquired between 1985 and 2005

Condition: Stable fissure near base with some nicks and abrasions as shown. Nice remaining detail.