Nsodia (commemorative head)

This terracotta head commemorated a member of a royal family who lived in what is now south-central Ghana. Such sculptures did not adorn graves but were kept instead in a grove known as the asensie, or “the place of the pots,” located outside of town.
Such clay heads are stylized portraits of the departed, incorporating some specific trait(s) including a subject’s hairstyle, beard, or pierced ears. In this case, the raised ornamentation on the face depicts scarification, while the protruding knobs further back on the head suggest a traditional hairdo of the late 19th century. This was likely the work of an accomplished female Akan artist.