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Prestige Chair
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This stately chair attributed to the Babanki peoples of the Cameroon Grassfields features an unusual configuration of male and female figures. They are mounted on stylized leopards, animals revered as embodiments of power and royalty, which stand atop a base of three undulating rings bearing 24 heads. Chairs like this one serve as visual records that help mark kingships through the ages, conveying power and authority. The chair type was relatively common at the time; they were carved for sale to Europeans and local patrons, and also used as articles of royal gift exchange.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit linePrestige Chair, 1800s. Africa, Central Africa, Cameroon, Babanki-style maker. Wood and paint; overall: 80.7 x 53.3 x 44.5 cm (31 3/4 x 21 x 17 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in memory of his parents, Wheeler B. and Dorothy Preston by Mary and John Preston, 1983.33
