Caryatid stool

Some hundred years ago, a Songye sculptor in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo launched a new product that he had copied from the neighboring Luba people: stools supported by human figures. He made such caryatid stools in a Songye style, by accentuating blocky shapes, sharp angles, and abstracted facial features. The result is an innovative sculpture executed with skill and confidence. The name of the sculptor is no longer known, and he is identified as the Master of Lusambo, after a region in Songye-land. He ran a workshop of carvers, but given the excellence of this particular stool, we may assume that it was carved by the master himself.