Stool

Three terms which, in large part of the African peoples, are used interchangeably. In most cases they are not meant to sit on them, as in almost all of Black Africa one sits directly on the ground. They are prestigious objects, they denote the rank of their owner. Sitting in Africa is a privilege, a sign of distinction. The guest will be immediately offered a seat. But no one will dare to sit in a seat belonging to a higher rank or in another person's seat without permission. A chief's seat is sacred.

There are stools of common use, daily, more sober, and there are ceremonials, artistically decorated, with representations that are but symbols of their cultures with meanings that are unknown to us in most cases.

A deep respect presides over the use of the different seats. No one would commit the offense of occupying a seat that is not his.

They are not, as in our cultures, part of the furniture, but rather part of the personality of the owner, a symbol that characterizes him and that will continue to distinguish him after his death and that are therefore associated with his spirit. The use of them over many years will only strengthen this bond, so that at the death of the owner the stool will be placed on the family altar and will serve as an intermediary to communicate with the soul of the deceased.

But their different forms and functions characterize not only their owners but through them the cultures from which they come and as material goods are integrated, in the course of time, into the family heritage.

Prestigious stool, also intended for reliquary. It is a head seat on cariatide. The Luba style is also called the style of the Maïtre de Buli, since most works seem to come out of the same hands.

The hollow that occupies the belly zana is destined to house the relics of the ancestors. It was usually closed with a mirror stroke or reflective maerial, to reject the curious who would approach it. When they were reflected, they thought their soul was being stolen.

Women are the privileged theme of Luba sculptors. Vilye was the first female spirit, the founder of the clan that guaranteed strain and fertility.

It is to be noted the way to cross the legs, as well as the length and disproportion that they would end up if they were standing.

This stool was owned by a Cameroonian prime minister.