Prestige stool
Cameroon Grassfields, Bamileke
sold
EUR 650
Provenance
Hans Heidenreich, Bayreuth, Germany, collected in situ (1928) in Tiko, an important seaport in the southwestern region of Cameroon. Passenger list with the name of Heidenreich existent, for his journey to Victoria Island on the West Coast of Africa, 17th September 1928 aboard of the “Ussukuma”, a steamship of the German East-Africa-Line and his return aboard of the “Wahehe”, 7th June 1929.Size
H: 49 cm
H: 19.3 inch
Description
wood, dark brown patina, ring-shaped base, corpus in openwork design, carved with four leopards, round seat with bulging rim, slightly dam., minor missing parts, cracks (seat), paint rubbed off;
The stool is the foremost prestige object as symbol of royal office. The act of sitting represents the Fon’s confidence and command sanctioned by tradition and his direct link to the royal ancestors, his predecessors on the throne. Coupled with royal icons used as caryatids, the stool explicitly upholds the Fon’s authority. The leopard embodies certain attributes like speediness, survivability and aggressiveness which were transferred on the king. So he became the most important royal symbol, like an “alter ego” of the king.