Stool. Ashanti village, Ghana, late 19th - early 20th century.

Stool. Ashanti village, Ghana, late 19th - early 20th century.
Wood.
Provenance:
- Sir Jacob Epstein, New York, London.
- Carlo Monzino, Castagnola, Switzerland.
Published in "Jacob Epstein Collector", Ezio Bassani, Malcolm D. McLeod, Milan, 1989, p. 95.
Measurements: 23 x 40 cm.

African stool with crescent-shaped seat, carved in one piece. For the Ashanti people, these stools were made for chiefs and important people and were considered important state insignia. They were believed to contain the soul of their owner.

The Ashanti or Asantes are an important ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. The sky god of the Ashanti is Nyame. He had a son with Asase Ya, the goddess of fertility, named Anansi. Asase Ya also had two other children, Bea and Tano. Aso is the wife of Anansi, both characters of West African legend.