The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Stool

by 1928

Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mangbetu-style maker

wood
Diameter: 39.1 cm (15 3/8 in.); Overall: 28.6 cm (11 1/4 in.)
Gift of the Gilpin Players of Karamu House 1929.320
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

In 1928, Paul Travis photographed the Mangbetu queen who once owned this stool as she sat on it.

Description

Such stools were highly prized by their female owners. Sculpted by master artists with widespread reputations, they were often "signed" with a deeply cut mark on the base. This groove was then filled with red camwood as an expression of blessings and good wishes for the stool's owner.
  • until 1928
    Queen (name unrecorded)
    1928
    Acquired by Paul Travis on behalf of the African Art Sponsors and the Gilpin Players in Ekibondo, Democratic Republic of the Congo (then-Belgian Congo)
    1928
    The African Art Sponsors and the Gilpin Players
    1929–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art by gift
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Boger, Ann C. et al. Paul B. Travis Africa 1927-1928. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. PP. 32–35, 47. Illustrated in 1928 Travis photograph p. 34
    2 Boger, Ann C. et al. Paul B. Travis Africa 1927-1928. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. PP. 32–35, 47. It appears on a checklist of "African Material" circa 1928 as one of "3 carved stools used by Ekibondis wives. Mangbettu, Ekibondis Village" Archives of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
    3 12/3/1928 letter to the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History from Hazel Mountain Walker (Gilpin Players, president) and Harry E. Davis (African Art Sponsors, president) reproduced on p. 54 of Adams, Henry et al. Paul Travis 1891-1975. Cleveland Artists Foundation, 2001.
  • Berzock, Kathleen Bickford, and Christa Clarke. 2011. Representing Africa in American Art Museums : A Century of Collecting and Display. Seattle: University of Washington Press, p. 107, fig. 5.3.
    Boger, Ann C. et al. Paul B. Travis Africa 1927-1928. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. p. 35.
    Wixom, WIlliam D. "African Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art." African Arts. 10, no. 3. (April 1977) 16-25. Mentioned: p. 16; p. 18, fig. 3 www.jstor.org
    Petridis, Constantijn, et al. Fragments of the Invisible: The René and Odette Delenne Collection of Congo Sculpture. Cleveland, Ohio : Cleveland Museum of art ; Milan : 5 Continents Editions, 2013. Mentioned: p. 107
    Petridis, Constantine. "A World of Great Art for Everyone." In Representing Africa in American Art Museums: A Century of Collecting and Display. Kathleen Bickford Berzock and Christa Clarke, 104-121. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011. Mentioned: p. 106; reproduced: p. 107, figs. 5.2, 5.3
  • Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    CMA 1991: Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum, June 7-September 8, 1991.
    CMA 1987: Comfortably Seated, November 11-February 15, 1987, no cat.
    African Art. Karamu House, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 1-May 30, 1960).
    Cleveland, OH, Karamu House: Arfican Art, March 1-May 30, 1960.
  • {{cite web|title=Stool|url=false|author=|year=by 1928|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1929.320