Chokwe Hand Carved Chiefs Chair

A small crowd has gathered underneath the seat.

This hand carved chief's chair is Chokwe, from Angola in Central Africa, 20th century, in wood and hide. Chokwe carvers adapted European chair forms into a sign of rank, adding faces and figures, so that a seat of office could show the world a chief's authority and the community around him. Two round faces in the manner of masks hang in the back, between hatched rails. A worn hide covers the seat. The stretchers below carry a busy group of small figures, some kneeling and some reaching toward one another, with standing figures at the corners. It is 35 inches high.

A seat like this was never going to be a private matter.