Images(3)

Leopard prestige chair

Label TextProwling leopards appear in perpetual motion on this chair. Never pausing, they circle the seat of the ruler who becomes surrounded with restless energy. A leopard seat was reserved for royalty, since leopards were admired for their strength, speed, and ferocity and so were kings. The armchair-style seat was carved in Cameroon during the long period of British and French colonial administration (ca. 1918-1960).

Object number81.17.722

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

Exhibition HistoryLos 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 pls. 118a, 118b (as throne). 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., pp. 50-51, reproduced pl. 27 (as Throne).

Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

Dimensions32 1/2 x 20 1/2 in. (82.6 x 52.1 cm) Diam.: 22 3/4 in.

MediumWood