Tabletop

African kings have always been fascinated by sumptuousness as a symbol of their power. Besides the so-called regalia, symbols of authority which only they could possess, they liked to surround themselves with beautiful objects, beginning with the artistically carved columns adorning the entrances to their palaces. Inside were numerous pieces of carved furniture that are true works of art. Like ritual stools, this furniture is not intended for use: it is ornamental, a symbol of power also intended to display the monarch’s refined luxury. Royal or court art is the only art produced by professionals paid a salary. The artists work for the king as court employees and enjoy numerous privileges.

Among peoples without writing, everything is writing: every sign has a meaning, often known only to initiates. African objects always have a magical, religious, recreational or practical meaning, and often a didactic one, as with much of the furniture and decoration adorning palace walls. Carved by the best local artists, sometimes brought from elsewhere, this furniture depicts scenes of warfare honouring the monarch, fighting or taking prisoners, scenes of offerings and homage, and a wide variety of scenes of rural life: preparing food, heaping up millet, hunting or returning from the hunt, taking cattle to pasture, carrying firewood, a dignitary quietly smoking his pipe beside the fire, and even people queuing at the healer’s door to be relieved of the effects of overeating or cured of an illness by having life-giving breath blown into their anus. The life of these peoples is written in signs.