Caryatid stool
D. R. Congo, Songye
sold
EUR 8,500
Provenance
Wilhelm Langheld (1867-1917), Berlin, Germany (before 1900);Langheld was an officer and representative of the German Colonial Government in East Africa and Kamerun from 1891 until 1908.
Size
H: 41 cm
D: 21 cm
H: 16.1 inch
D: 8.3 inch
Description
wood, slightly shiny dark- and reddish brown patina, kaolin, form of the face and mouth Songe characteristic, opening with inserted magical substances (“cryptofetish”), emblem at the seat, slightly dam. (finger of the right hand), small traces of insect caused damage, cracks, rep. (seat on the left and base to the front, narrow wooden splinters accurately reinserted);
the use of such stools was subject to special occacions, such as birth, initiation, marriage, or case of death. They were reserved for a political and spiritual “upper class”, such as chiefs, priests, medicine men, healers and dignitaries. They mainly fullfilled representative and ritual functions.