Abstract Disc-Shaped Object with Four Faces

Origin: Koma Culture, Ghana
Composition: terracotta

For centuries, populations lived south of the Mossi states, but north of the Asante (Ashanti) territories, in a territory spread across northern Ghana and southern Burkina Faso. Between 1200 and 1800 AD, in a district known as Koma (or Komaland), mysterious human and animal figures were buried in the ground.

Koma figures share a distinctive style-their faces have round, bulging eyes, pierced nostrils, and open mouths, as if in chant. Janiform faces are prevalent, and along with animal figures, are thought to represent totemic emblems.

This piece was thermoluminescence tested by Laboratory Ralf Kotalla (Germany), and found to be authentic, having been fired (created) between 927 and 1287 A.D.

Very few pieces of this type (disc-shaped, four faces linked together) have been discovered. Its TL test indicates that it is an especially early piece, created centuries before most collected Komaland works (Ref: Visona, "A History of Art In Africa," Bacquart, "The Tribal Arts of Africa").

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