Ashanti, Ghana: a special stool of the Ashanti (dyed black). This is not a piece of furniture, but rather a sacred memorial object for an ancestor.
Ashanti, Ghana: a special stool of the Ashanti (dyed black). This is not a piece of furniture, but rather a sacred memorial object for an ancestor.
Were an Ashanti high dignitary to die, his stool (up to that point the seat of his soul) was dyed black and venerated and offered sacrifices as memento of this ancestor. No one could sit on that stool any more (see cat. no. 139).
The stool is in the typical Ashanti form: it is carved from a piece of light-coloured wood, has a wide, rectangular and curved seat, and a rectangular base plate. In between are 4 side supports with outward facing decorative spikes (one of which is broken). The central support is hollow (hollowed from beneath) and is embellished with perforations. An interesting object with small age-related damage: loss at the base plate on the back and to the right, and two small holes in the lower part (the result of earlier animal depredation). Important for this piece are the noticeable traces of encrusted, shiny black colouring that distinguish it as a sacred memorial object. Height: 23 cm (seat, at centre), 30 cm (seat, sides); length: 47 cm; width: c. 26 cm. First half of the 20th century. (ME)
Provenance:
Austrian Private Collection.
Specialist: Erwin Melchardt
Erwin Melchardt
+43-1-515 60-465
erwin.melchardt@dorotheum.at
09.06.2016 - 17:00
- Starting bid:
-
EUR 600.-
Ashanti, Ghana: a special stool of the Ashanti (dyed black). This is not a piece of furniture, but rather a sacred memorial object for an ancestor.
Were an Ashanti high dignitary to die, his stool (up to that point the seat of his soul) was dyed black and venerated and offered sacrifices as memento of this ancestor. No one could sit on that stool any more (see cat. no. 139).
The stool is in the typical Ashanti form: it is carved from a piece of light-coloured wood, has a wide, rectangular and curved seat, and a rectangular base plate. In between are 4 side supports with outward facing decorative spikes (one of which is broken). The central support is hollow (hollowed from beneath) and is embellished with perforations. An interesting object with small age-related damage: loss at the base plate on the back and to the right, and two small holes in the lower part (the result of earlier animal depredation). Important for this piece are the noticeable traces of encrusted, shiny black colouring that distinguish it as a sacred memorial object. Height: 23 cm (seat, at centre), 30 cm (seat, sides); length: 47 cm; width: c. 26 cm. First half of the 20th century. (ME)
Provenance:
Austrian Private Collection.
Specialist: Erwin Melchardt
Erwin Melchardt
+43-1-515 60-465
erwin.melchardt@dorotheum.at
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| Auction: | Tribal Art - Africa |
| Auction type: | Saleroom auction |
| Date: | 09.06.2016 - 17:00 |
| Location: | Vienna | Palais Dorotheum |
| Exhibition: | 04.06. - 09.06.2016 |