Circular Rainbow (Kontonkorowi) stool

20th century

"In Asante, we have stools- now there is a town called ashan where stools are carved. Every stool has its name, nomenclature is very important. We have ahenya, King or chief's stools. We have amaga, Women's stools. We have namaja, nama is tupence- not at all expensive one. But in our palaces, when for example a king is installed and enstooled, he is made a stool, seseja. We are told that he baths on this, so he really washes himself on this stool. When he passes away, if he is qualified to be in the rank of a great chief, a great king who led his people in the battle field and came victorious, who expanded the nation, then he will qualify and so the stool will be blackened with soot from the chimney, gold, dust, egg, and blood and then placed in the stool house. This stool is in the form of a circular rainbow called kontonkorowi in Asante twi.

"The circular rainbow illustrates the proverb that the rainbow is around the neck of every nation.... this is a reference to the power of the Asante confederacy to control and unite all other peoples. It's also the halo which surrounds everybody. The moon has a halo that encircles every human being. This is also said in relation to death which is certain, and which everybody will succumb.

"….then the father will also present the child with a stool, wabatas, if you've come, be seated, remain with us, don't depart. Then if a couple get married, it is the practice for the man to present the wife with a stool- love is not blind, you can see more- because you can see more, let us see less, let love prevail, so let us marry and stay married- this is your stool, a symbol of our relationship.

"Now when you sit on the stool and you leave the stool, it must be placed on its side, you don't want any other spirits to come and sit on it. So stools are very sacred objects in our culture." (Daniel "Koo Nimo" Amponsah, 2001)

Wood

15 1/4 x 22 3/8 x 12 in. (38.7 x 56.9 x 30.5 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.338

Provenance: [Jack Patla, Charleston, South Carolina]; sold to Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1967; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

Photo: Paul Macapia

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryCleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Art, African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection, July 10 - Sept. 1, 1968 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Museum, Oct. 10 - Dec. 1, 1968). Text by William Fagg. Cat. no. 104 (as Stool).

Los Angeles, California, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, Jan. 20 - Mar. 17, 1974 (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, May 5 - Sept. 22, 1974). Text by Robert Farris Thompson. No cat. no., pp. 87, 89, reproduced pl. 119 (as "kontonkorowi" stool).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Table and Chair: A Study in Form and Style, May 28 - Aug. 9, 1987.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, African Panoplies: Art for Rulers, Traders, Hunters, and Priests, Apr. 21 - Aug. 14, 1988.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, Feb. 7 - May 19, 2002 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Oct. 2, 2004 - Jan. 2, 2005; Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, Feb. 12 - June 19, 2005; Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Oct. 8, 2005 - Jan. 1, 2006; Nashville, Tennessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Jan. 27 - Apr. 30, 2006 [as African Art, African Voices: Long Steps Never Broke a Back]). Text by Pamela McClusky. No cat. no., p. 95, reproduced pl. 52 (as Stool).

Published ReferencesMcClusky, Pamela. African Art: From Crocodiles to Convertibles in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1987; cat. no. 9, pp. 18-19, reproduced and on cover.

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