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Royal Chair (Akonkromfi)
Asante (Ghana; Coastal West Africa)
Probably mid–/late 19th century
- Medium
- Wood, brass, and leather
- Classification
- Furniture
- Dimensions
- 104.2 × 55.9 × 48.3 cm (41 × 22 × 19 in.)
- Culture
- Ghana
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Africa
- Credit line
- Purchased with funds provided by Jamee J. and Marshall Field
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
At the height of Asante power in the 18th and 19th centuries, a wide variety of decorative seats, ranging from stools to chairs and palanquins, were developed as symbols of rulership. The wooden frame of this akonkromfi chair is covered with brass knobs, tacks, and decorative repousséd sheeting. Akonkromfi means “praying mantis,” a reference to the chair’s crossed legs, which are derived from a European folding-chair prototype. Akonkromfi are mainly reserved for festive occasions, when they may be carried alongside a chief in procession or used to support the stool that is the ultimate symbol of his divinely sanctioned power.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
