Rare stool "mpona" or "kipona" ·  D. R. Congo, Luba / Kusu · ID: 3046448

Description

wood, rep. in several places

Only few nonfigurative Luba stools consisting of two platforms mediated by four outwardly bowing supports are known in western collections (cf. Nooter-Roberts, 1998, p.160). It is thought that these stools may have been predecessors of the female caryatid stools for which the Luba are widely known.

This stool, to which a small figure in the centre has already been added to the original form, could represent a transitional form. The only comparable example published in Perspectives, 1987, p. 118 (see also AHDRC 0032141).

The object Rare stool “mpona” or “kipona” with the object ID 3046448 was last part of the auction 94th Tribal Art Auction at March 7, 2020 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 78 achieved a sales price of EUR 1,800.

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Comparing literature

Roberts, Mary Nooter, Memory, New York 1996, p. 160 Susan Vogel et. al., Perspectives, Angles on African Art, New York 1987, p. 118

Publications

AHDRC: 0170776