Chieftain's stool from Cameroon

myminifactory

Dating back to the late 1870s and 80s, this unique, so-called chieftain's stool, was used by the dignitaries of Douala (a group of Bantu-speaking people living in the areas on the Bight of Biafra). A characteristic feature of such items are decorative elements – supports (caryatids) hold the bent, concave seat in the middle. The almost mandatory decorative elements are carved figures of animals: lions, leopards, snakes or birds. Stools were used during ceremonies and audiences. They remained an indispensable attribute – a symbol of dignity and high social status. The presented stool from Cameroon is one of four such items found in Polish collections. They all belonged to the collection of Stefan Szolc-Rogoziński. The other three are related to the culture of the Akan (Ashanti) peoples from the borderlands of Ivory Coast and Ghana.