ngunja (carved stool), unrecorded Chokwe artist

Exhibition Label:
"Chokwe Art from the Claude D. Brown Collection," Feb-2000
Depending on how the throne is being used, the male and female figures on the rungs may be interpreted as a guardian ancestor couple or as two people from everyday life. Interpreted as ancestors, they reinforced the status of the throne's owner through his connection with the ancestors. The toads on the rungs may have been interpreted as symbolizing ancestors. Toads dig around in the dirt, moving from the world above and the world beneath.