Dimensions: H:36.6" W:20.9" L:16.5" Weight: 34.1 lbs.
Bamileke Throne Chair - This wooden carved chair or throne with spider pattern belongs to the fon in the Bamileke tribe of Cameroon. Bamileke communities are organized into chiefdoms and follow a well-ordered and structured pattern. The chief (fon) together with the powerful societies or brotherhood maintain power and social order in these communities. Typically, Bamileke art depicts themes of leadership, royalty, and prestige. They make large figures, thrones, glass beads and important royal tables and stools which are commonly used by the fon, as well as sub-chiefs, and other officials to assert power and demonstrate their place in society.
About the Tribe
The Cameroon-Bamileke Bantu people cluster encompasses multiple Bantu ethnic groups primarily found in Cameroon, the largest of which is the Bamileke. Between the 11th and 14th centuries, they moved to what is now northern Cameroon. They moved further south and west in the 17th century to avoid being forced to convert to Islam by the Fulani tribe. They live in a hilly and mountainous area in south-west Cameroon known as "The Grassland," which is bordered on the south by an equatorial forest and on the north by a savannah.