The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 16, 2026

Ceremonial Chair or Throne (citwamo ca mangu)

1800s

Africa, Central Africa, Angola, Chokwe-style carver

Wood, upholstery studs, leather
Overall: 107 x 55 x 55 cm (42 1/8 x 21 5/8 x 21 5/8 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2024.140
Location: 108A African

Did You Know?

Starting around the 1500s, Chokwe and other African leaders and traders received fine chairs as gifts from Portuguese traders. Chokwe leaders adapted this symbol of power as their own, using it in tandem with stools, an earlier kind of prestige seat.

Description

This citwamo ca mangu chair bears over 40 sculpted figures arranged in complex compositions across the chair’s top rail (back), stretchers (rungs), and legs; all symbolize the power of Chokwe supreme chiefs. Such chairs typically bear a dozen or fewer figures. Scenes of royal life and power wrap around the seat, reinforcing how the chief and his family are at the center of their polity and its business.
  • ?–about 1910–1912
    Unrecorded Chokwe leader
    c. 1910–1912 – 1958
    Captain José Morgado Da Cruz (Portugal, 1871–1958) by gift
    1958–2020
    Family of Captain José Morgado Da Cruz, by descent (Grandfather of Cedric Melado; Mother of Cedric Melado)
    Private European Collection (Cedric Melado, family member of Da Cruz; Lisbon)
    June 24, 2020
    Sotheby's Paris (June 25, 2020 lot 49)
    2020–2024
    Private Collection, France
    2024–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art by purchase
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Letter from Cedric Melado, curatorial file
    2 Letter from Cedric Melado, curatorial file
  • {{cite web|title=Ceremonial Chair or Throne (citwamo ca mangu)|url=false|author=|year=1800s|access-date=16 March 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.140