Seat of a chief "no oanga" · Cook Islands · ID: 3036666
Description
wood, reddish and dark brown patina, rectangular seat with curved sides, rising from four feet, traces of the carving tool recognizable, slightly dam., minor missing parts (rims of the seat);
carved from a single block of wood. Such seats could be used only by chiefs on ritual occasions as symbols of rank and served no other utilitarian purpose. When not in use, they were kept in the chiefs house or storehouse, hung by a fibre cord strung between two of the legs.
The object Seat of a chief “no oanga” with the object ID 3036666 was last part of the auction 76th tribal art auction at March 22, 2014 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 68.
Here you will find more objects and interesting facts about Oceanian art.
Comparing literature
Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. II, Köln 1995, p. 527, ill. 608 Wardwell, Allen, Island Ancestors, Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection, Fort Worth 1994, ill. 77