Chair
CultureNgombe peoples
Dateearly 20th century
MediumWood and brass
DimensionsOverall: 21 1/4 × 11 7/8 × 21 inches (53.98 × 30.16 × 53.34 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund
Object number96-3
On View
On viewGallery Location
- L9
Collections
DescriptionSix-legged wooden stool nearly completely covered with round-headed brass tacks. slopes upward, forming a low back rest. The two back legs of the stool have six triangular-shaped areas of wood left uncovered by the tacks.Gallery LabelThis powerful but graceful prestige chair is a dynamic combination of the local Ngombe stool form and a low backrest inspired by European chair design. Except for three triangular areas on the back legs, the surface is entirely covered with brass tacks that would have been polished to a luminous sheen. This chair's high degree of surface decoration indicates the wealth and access to foreign trade goods that were the prerogative of Ngombe chiefs. During the 19th century, imported European brass tacks and wire were highly prized decorative elements in many Central African cultures, including the Ngombe.
With Galerie Ambre, Brussels, Belgium, by 1995-1996;
Purchased from Galerie Ambre by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1996.
Newsletter (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, March 1997): 2, (repro.).
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