Stool (by 1928): Art, History and Details

Stool (by 1928) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Such stools were highly prized by their female owners. Sculpted by master artists with widespread reputations, they were often "signed" with a deeply cut mark on the base. This groove was then filled with red camwood as an expression of blessings and good wishes for the stool's owner.

Object facts

• Title: Stool
• Date: by 1928
• Culture: Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mangbetu-style maker
• Type: Furniture and woodwork
• Technique: wood
• Dimensions: Diameter: 39.1 cm (15 3/8 in.); Overall: 28.6 cm (11 1/4 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 1929.320

A detail from the museum

In 1928, Paul Travis photographed the Mangbetu queen who once owned this stool as she sat on it.

Collection credit

Gift of the Gilpin Players of Karamu House

Further reading listed by the museum

• Berzock, Kathleen Bickford, and Christa Clarke. 2011. Representing Africa in American Art Museums : A Century of Collecting and Display. Seattle: University of Washington Press, p. 107, fig. 5.3.
• Boger, Ann C. et al. Paul B. Travis Africa 1927-1928. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. p. 35.
• Wixom, WIlliam D. "African Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art." African Arts. 10, no. 3. (April 1977) 16-25.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.