Photographs © Tim Hamill
ASANTE (ASHANTI), CEREMONIAL STOOL 7, 14x21.5", $350, SOLD, Ghana
This design of an leopard or jaguar, an Osebo Dwa, symbolizes the power of the Asantahene.
Stools indicate status, power and succession of chiefs and kings. Carved from single blocks, Asante (or Ashanti) stools traditionally have crescent-shaped seats, flat bases and complex support structures, which exist in many designs with symbolic meaning. Asante stools are spiritual as well as practical. They were understood to be the seat of the owner's soul and when not in use were leaned against a wall so that other souls passing by would not settle on it.
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