Throne

This throne exhibits mandu-yene, the "richness of beads" emblematic of royal prestige. It is embellished with thousands of European glass beads and cowry shells stitched onto a cloth base. Stools supported by images of leopards, as this example is, symbolize a king's fearsome, political and supernatural powers. The royal ancestor figure forming the throne's back wears a prestige cap, chevron-bead necklace, loincloth and European officer's coat, adopted as a symbol of rank and status. Seated on this throne, the king was literally embraced by the outstretched arms of his royal ancestor, signifying the continuity of dynastic authority and the king's connection with the spiritual ancestral world.

Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund