ngunja (carved chair)

unrecorded Chokwe artist, artist

ngunja (carved chair), late 1800s–1908

Where object was made: Angola

Material/technique: wood; brass; carving; possibly goat skin

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 63 x 35.5 x 42 cm
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 24 13/16 x 14 x 16 9/16 in

Credit line: Gift of Claude D. Brown

Accession number: 2007.2542

Not on display

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Images

Label texts

Corpus - Project Redefine: Phase 2

This chair features two men engaged in a kind of tug-of-war with a naked woman splayed between them. Why is such a disturbing scene adorning the backrest of a small chair? What appears as a violent scene is actually a symbolic representation of the Chokwe origin myth. In this tale, Lweji and her brothers struggle over succession to the throne. Ultimately, their father names her the successor, and Lweji becomes the supreme matriarchal ancestor of the Chokwe people. Though small in size, the chair was created for a chief. The origin myth, placed on the highest rung of the chair, connects the chief to the ancestors and spirit world, securing the practice of divine chieftainship.

Exhibition Label:
"Corpus," Apr-2012, Amanda Martin-Hamon
This chair features two men engaged in a kind of tug-of-war with a naked woman splayed between them. Why is such a disturbing scene adorning the backrest of a small chair? What appears as a violent scene is actually a symbolic representation of the Chokwe origin myth. In this tale, Lweji and her brothers struggle over succession to the throne. Ultimately, their father names her the successor, and Lweji becomes the supreme matriarchal ancestor of the Chokwe people. Though small in size, the chair was created for a chief. The origin myth, placed on the highest rung of the chair, connects the chief to the ancestors and spirit world, securing the practice of divine chieftainship.

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 used. The chairs were especially rich in decorations consisting of animated scenes involving many figures and a complicated story line.

Archive label, date unknown:
2. CIRCUMCISION
This scene probably represents the circumcision rite of the Mukanda ceremony, a major rite of passage for the Chokwe in which the boys are initiated into manhood. After various rituals and dances, the boys are taken into the bush, where this scene takes place, with the men who officiate at the ceremony. Each boy is, in succession, grabbed from behind by an elder kindsman, who pulls him onto his back on the ground, pinning his arms and legs while the circumcision operation is performed by an offical of the Mukanda ceremony. The newly initiated boys are then kept in a camp away from women until their wonds have healed. During this time, they are taugh Chokwe cosmology, history, religion, rituals, and other aspects of Chokwe life that will enable them to function properly in their society.

Archive label, date unknown:
3,4 DOUBLE GONG
This scene shows a man playing a double gong. Crafted by Chokwe blacksmiths, each of the two parts sounds a different tone when struck. the other man is holding a pot, probably containing beer to help fuel the musician's performance.

Archive label, date unknown:
5 COITION SCENE
This rung shows a coition scene with two women looking on--one is laughing. "The contemporary Chokwe are rather repressed and puritanical, painfully modest, strict in prohibiting women from working or visiting outside the home, and not given to ribaldry or humorous badinage. Since these activities are left to masked dancers, particularly the phallic Chiheu, the eroticism on the thrones may simply be representative or compensatory, but the 'French Postcard' effects were undoubltedly popular with European soldiers and administrators as trophies of thier African adventures." (Crowley, 1972)