Chief's chair

The Asante people of Ghana developed a complex “seating culture, ” with numerous types of stools and chairs employed in different contexts. A striking seat used by the aristocracy is the decoratively carved folding chair, likely based on early European travelers’ chairs. Its back is carved in a perforated pattern, and the entire surface is covered with brass tacks and metal parts. This chair is unusual because of its rich imagery, showing various birds, a person holding a rifle, a turtle and a coiled snake, a shell and a crocodile chasing a fish, and on the front and back rails, the so-called “wisdom knot, ” a symbol of intelligence and unity.