Leopard stool

20th century

In a taut crouch like a feline ready to pounce, this leopard is barely contained between the circle bases of this stool. Leopards head the list of royal alter egos. It is said that a leopard sleeps with one eye open lest any movement escape its attention. The same quality is claimed for sacred kings, with whom the leopard is associated.

Wood

14 3/4 x 11 9/16 in. (37.4 x 29.4 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.725

Provenance: [Galerie Concorde, Los Angeles, California]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1978; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, 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]).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Lessons from the Institute of Empathy, Mar. 31, 2018 - ongoing.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM