Cleveland Museum of Art

Ceremonial Chair or Throne (citwamo ca mangu)

Date

1800s

Medium

Wood, upholstery studs, leather

Culture

Africa, Central Africa, Angola, Chokwe-style carver

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This citwamo ca mangu chair bears over 40 sculpted figures arranged in complex compositions across the chair’s top rail (back), stretchers (rungs), and legs; all symbolize the power of Chokwe supreme chiefs. Such chairs typically bear a dozen or fewer figures. Scenes of royal life and power wrap around the seat, reinforcing how the chief and his family are at the center of their polity and its business. Starting around the 1500s, Chokwe and other African leaders and traders received fine chairs as gifts from Portuguese traders. Chokwe leaders adapted this symbol of power as their own, using it in tandem with stools, an earlier kind of prestige seat.

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