39 - Terracotta head, "kronkronbua"

Terracotta head, "kronkronbua" Koma-Bulsa culture. Ghana With base Terracotta. H 12 cm. Provenance: - Galerie Walu, Zurich (before 1987). - Claudine Eichele (1952–2020), Brotte-lès-Luxeuil. - Eichele Community of Heirs. Published: René and Denise David (1987). Komaland. Zurich: Galerie Walu. Number 552. Exhibited: Galerie Walu, Zurich. “Komaland” (1987). Thermoluminescence dating: 700 years (+/- 20%) kronkronbua = “children from earlier times.” In the 1980s, the first figurines of this style, made of fired clay, were discovered in the Upper West Region of Ghana, in the area now inhabited by the Koma (e.g., in Yikpabongo, Tantuosi, Wumobri) and the Bulsa (Builsa), the first figurines of this style, made of fired clay, were discovered. Thermoluminescence dating placed the objects between the 13th and 18th centuries CE. Karl Ferdinand Schädler described the rediscovery of this culture in 1987 as follows: “Some of them look as if they came from the Bandiagara Escarpment and were products of the Dogon. But there are only a few of them. Most of these terracotta figures from a culture about which nothing is known look more as if they came from Somarzo or sprang from the fantasy world of Hieronymus Bosch: heads whose skulls taper to a point or, conversely, are hollowed out into a cup shape, with eyeglass-like eyes or with ears that, like two handles, are attached to the back of the head. Mouths that, separated from any face, unite with other mouths to form a new “self-speaking” being; conversely, faces that have likewise joined together and—endowed with arms and legs—now seem to come straight from the underworld. It seems pointless to speculate about the world of thoughts and ideas from which these figures, heads, and objects sprang—whether they were fashioned as grave goods, ancestral figures, or cult figures. Perhaps it is even reassuring to know that not every newly discovered mystery in Africa needs to be unraveled immediately, that—at least for a time—a culture cannot be dissected like a corpse: because neither oral traditions nor archaeological artifacts provide any clues. Instead, perhaps we should be content to admire, on the one hand, the ingenuity of the design and, on the other, the powerful, expressive quality inherent in these sculptures. Judging by these two criteria and by the objects’ outward appearance, they seem to represent different stylistic traditions, if not entirely different cultures, which either succeeded one another or—which also seems possible—emerged completely independently, one after another, in the same region. One of the stylistic traditions exhibits a Mannerist character: the deliberately distorted facial features that often lend the figures—mostly seated figures wearing necklaces, symbols of dignity, or upper-arm knives—an eerie, transcendental, and at times even malevolent expression—princes of another world. As with many of the apparently uniquely designed heads, which usually end in a tapering neck, the heads of the figures are also frequently hollowed out in a cup-like shape. The hands usually rest on the knees (occasionally, for no apparent reason, on one of the shoulders), and the genitals—the majority of which are male—are often oversized and clearly modeled. The individually crafted heads are generally much larger than the figures themselves; they are also usually more crudely executed and, in style, much more primitive and direct. Another stylistic trend, expressed primarily in the heads of theriomorphic beings, often features a wide-open, apparently screaming mouth and is reminiscent of Gothic gargoyles. The people of this culture must have devoted particular attention to Janus-like heads and, beyond that, to multi-headed creatures. The former, conceived as individual sculptures, sometimes take on a phallic character due to their tapered heads (they also taper straight at the bottom, not conically like the “hollow heads” found placed around the graves). The latter, multi-headed beings, like the Janus-like single heads, likewise have conically tapering, pointed heads; however, the body of these figures—which can depict up to four distinct figures in a single sculpture—is shaped quite rudimentarily as a rectangular block, with only faintly suggested limbs and genitalia. What else will come to light from this region in northern Ghana, which is now inhabited by the Koma (also known as Komba, Konkomba, Bekpokpak, etc.)? Was the settlement from which the finds originate also a trading hub for goods—kola nuts from the coast, gold, salt, European goods, etc.—like Salaga at the end of the last century, which lies on the route to the coast, or like Kong, Bondoukou, and the present-day