Ritual stool ·  Ghana, Ashanti · ID: 3037155

Description

wood, painted in white and black, kneeling female caryatid figure with the head turned sideways, carved with shorts, min. dam., traces of abrasion;
such stools are prominent in the ritual and ceremonial life at royal courts and in the lives of ordinary people. During rituals and ceremonies stools are carried in processions proclaiming the succession of kings and their deeds, as well as events in the history of state. Children are given stools by their father to mark various passages in life from childhood to adult status. When first wed husbands present a stool to his new wife. Stools are eminently personal to their owner containing a segment of their spiritual being and no one would ever sit on anothers stool.

Expertise

Karl-Ferdinand Schädler, 30.06.2003, Munich