Caryatid stool
Angola, Chokwe
not available anymore
Provenance
Cotlow Lewis, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsHelmut Gernsheim, Castagnola-Lugano, Switzerland
Georges Frederick Keller, Davos/ Paris, Switzerland/ France
Paolo Morigi, Magliaso-Lugano, Switzerland
Rudolf E. & Leonore Blum, Zürich-Zumikon, Switzerland
Sanne Nies, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Size
H: 30 cm
D: 23 cm / 26 cm
H: 11.8 inch
D: 9.1 inch / 10.2 inch
Description
wood, collection number “G.F.K. 299”
This chiefs stool features a female figure seated with elbows on knees and cradling her head in her hands - a pose commonly used to represent ancestral spirits in the artistic vocabulary of Chokwe and related people.
This pose is associated with elders, people deep in thought, and also with burial position of chiefs and important members of the community.
Publications
Morigi, P., "Raccolta di un amatore d'arte primitiva", Bern, 1980, p. 320, ill. 287; J. David (ed.), Chokwe and their Bantu Neighbours, Zurich, 2003, ill. 32; Kunst aus Afrika und Ozeanien. Eine unbekannte Privatsammlung, Bern, 1980, cat. 287 (not illustrated); Blum, R., Sammlung Rudolf und Leonore Blum, vol. 2 B, Private ed.: Blum, 2007, ill.135AHDRC: 0002268