Chief's Chair

The Chokwe along with the Bakongo and Lunda made contact with Europeans at the end of the 15th century. The contacts led to profound changes in cultural traditions and among the art styles of the people concerned. As is the case with the Kongo peoples, the early contact led to a sense of heightened naturalism as well as an adoption of European prestige objects for nobility or royalty.

The stool has always been one of the primary objects in the art of Africa; often as a visual reminder of status, as few cultures, particularly in Central Africa, allow all of their citizens to utilize the same kinds and styles of stools within the same tribal context.

The early adoption of the European chair by the Chokwe, Lwena, and Lunda immediately created a prestige object that was at once a classical throne or high stool, as had previously been the case, but also a valuable and important object referencing the power of outsiders who had shown greater strength than the local powers.

Over time, the use of such chairs by royalty gave way to the wholesale carving of such objects in a completely traditional context, for any chief that could afford it. Indeed, photos exist from the 1950’s of Pende chiefs who had close ties to the Chokwe using chairs such as this example as well – the tradition was spreading.

This chair is a classical example of a mid-twentieth century Chokwe chief’s chair. The chair back has the usual ancestral figures on each strut, however the central backrest image has been replaced by animal imagery. The bottom bear maskettes are Chokwe in origin and would have had little or no relevance to a Pende or Lwena chief. The usual figures abound: dancers, animals, royal personages and masked individuals.

It should be noted that iconographic changes were not due to any other pressure than local carvers trying to outdo one another with elaborate and unusual designs that redefined the idiom.