Photographs © Tim Hamill
ASANTE (ASHANTI), CEREMONIAL STOOL 24, 21" x, 15.25", $550, SOLD
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.
The design of an elephant, an Esona Dwa, designates this as a stool used in the past only by the Asantahene, or king.
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