Collections: Arts of Africa and the Pacific Islands: Chief's Chair

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Chief's Chair

Most seats in sub-Saharan Africa are low stools with round or rectangular tops, carved from a single block of wood. During the seventeenth century, Portuguese traders and explorers introduced chairs with backs, leather seats, and decorative brass tacks, giving them as presents to chiefs, who used them as thrones. Chokwe artists soon began to produce similar chairs, adapting the style to preexisting sculptural traditions. Here, a Chihonhgo mask, a symbol of chieftaincy, is represented on the back of the chair. Figures on the rungs and splats depict scenes of daily and ceremonial life.

• Culture: Chokwe
• Medium: Copper alloy, animal hide, wood
• Geographical Locations:
  • Possible place made: Angola
  • Possible place made: Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Dates: 19th century
• Dimensions: 26 3/4 x 12 x 15 1/2 in. (67.9 x 30.5 x 39.4 cm)
• Collections: Arts of Africa and the Pacific Islands
• Museum Location: This item is on view in African Galleries, 1st Floor
• Accession Number: 22.187
• Credit Line: Museum Expedition 1922, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund
• Image: 3/4 right, 22.187_threequarter_right_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Chokwe. Chief's Chair, 19th century. Copper alloy, animal hide, wood, 26 3/4 x 12 x 15 1/2 in. (67.9 x 30.5 x 39.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1922, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 22.187 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 22.187_threequarter_right_bw.jpg)
• Catalogue Description: European-style chair with two splats, rungs, and a leather-covered seat, decorated with figural and animal carvings and brass tacks. Carved geometric, designs on front and back of splats create background for a Chihongo mask, rows of figures, a snake, the backs of birds, and two figures with Cikunza masks. Figures representing daily and ceremonial life (e.g. man on the back of a cow, musician, etc.) decorate the rungs and front legs of the chair. The front figure between the legs on the proper right panel is lost. The lower left figure on the front of the seat back has losses on both feet. On the hide seat, there is a loss on the front of the proper left edge. On the rear and at the center and proper left top edges of the seat back, the surface is abraded. There are some tacks missing.