Ceremonial Stool of Nana Azia-Ntoa III

Artist Baule People

Artist Akan Peoples, Ahanta group

Place of OriginIvory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire)

Dateearly 20th century

Dimensions48 in. (121.9 cm)

Mediumwood, metal studs, and kaolin

ClassificationFurniture

Credit LinePurchased with funds given by Dorothy Mackenzie Price

Object number

2005.48

Not on View

DescriptionRoyal stool supported by a leopard. Head, body, legs, and seat carved from a single block of wood; the tail carved from a separate piece of the same wood and joined. Metal tacks used to ornament the top of the seat-some iron, others brass and/or copper. Many types of stools and chairs are made for public use in West Africa. The larger and less portable they are, the more prestigious for the owner. Royal stool supported by a leopard. Head, body, legs, and seat carved from a single block of wood; the tail carved from a separate piece of the same wood and joined. Metal tacks used to ornament the top of the seat--some iron, others brass and /or copper. Many types of stools and chairs are made for public use in West Africa. The larger and less portable they are, the more prestigious for the owner.

Label TextAlong Africa’s Guinea Coast, kings and chiefs sit on ceremonial stools for grand public events. Leopards are associated with kings and leaders throughout Africa, so carving the seat on the back of the royal animal is a dramatic symbol of power. Traces of kaolin (white clay) on the surface show that the pigment was applied repeatedly to enhance the leopard’s spots. This Baule stool was acquired by the Museum with a letter from a ruler from the neighboring Akan people, Nana Azia-Ntoa III, who explained that the stool came out “only on ceremonial days,” when it was “announced by ceremonial drummers early in the morning before sunrise.”Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 51, repr. (col.).Exhibition HistoryChicago, Douglas Dawson Gallery, Winter 2005.Comparative ReferencesSee also Herbert M. Cole and Doran H. Ross, The Arts of Ghana, exhibition catalogue, Frederick S. Wight Gallery, UCLA (Los Angeles, CA 1977) p. 139, figs. 296 and 297: Akan prestige stools with leopard supports, both in private collections

See also Sandra Bocola (ed.), African Seats (Munich and New York: Prestel 1995) 175, cat. 45, and color ill. p. 80 of Baule Ulimbi bia stool, Wood, Width 73.5 cm (29 in.), Geneva, Musée Barbier-Mueller, inv. 1007-187, with leopard support holding/carrying a small ram in its mouth.

See also Susan Mullin Vogel, Baule: African Art Western Eyes, exhibition catalogue, Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, in cooperation with The Museum for African Art 1997) color ill. p. 273 of Stool supported by a leopard, Coll. Oliver and Pamela Cobb.