ngunja (carved stool)

unrecorded Chokwe artist, artist

ngunja (carved stool), late 1800s–1914

Where object was made: Angola

Material/technique: carving; wood; antelope hide

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 32 x 34.5 x 30 cm
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 12 5/8 x 13 9/16 x 11 13/16 in

Credit line: Gift of Claude D. Brown

Accession number: 2007.0324

Not on display

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Label texts

Spencer Selections (with audio descriptions)

This section of the tour is part of the exhibition, Empire of Things. We invite you to consider the collecting practices of the Museum and to consider the geographical regions from which the Spencer Museum of Art has acquired artworks. The carvings on this ngunja, or carved stool, represent the Chokwe peoples’ social, political, and religious systems that enhanced the power of its owner. The stool’s form reveals influences from 18th-century European traders. This stool is part of an exhibition that houses European furniture, a Chinese screen, and other varied objects that together are meant to represent “the aspirations of the collector, expressed through the careful yet idiosyncratic accumulation of treasured objects,” according to curators.

Look closely at the figures carved on the rungs of the ngunja. What clues do they give us about Chokwe traditions? How does its place among the other objects in the exhibition affect your interpretation of it?

Exhibition Label: “Conversation I: Place,” Oct-2007, Emily Stamey
The European form of these thrones was likely introduced to the Chokwe by Portuguese traders in the 18th century. Most of the objects and figures carved on them, however, depict traditional Chokwe customs and beliefs.

Archive label, Palmer collection exhibit, date unknown:
The Chokwe of northeastern Angola are noted for their adornment of chairs, stools, headrests, combs, and other objects of daily use. The chairs were especially rich in decorations consisting of animated scenes involving many figures and a complicated story line.