Royal Chair (Asipim)

Arts of Africa

Late 19th/early 20th century

Asante
Ghana
Coastal West Africa

Within Asante society, asipim chairs signal the power and prestige of chiefs, who have the unique right to use them. The asipim’s low profile reflects the Asante preference for stools as seats of honor, while its shape and the decorative use of brass tacks, knobs, and finials document the assimilation of European forms and materials in the 18th and 19th centuries. The finely delineated motifs pressed into the brass covering the back of this chair refer to the owner’s status.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Asante
Title: Royal Chair (Asipim)
Place: Ghana (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1875–1925
Medium: Wood, brass, and leather
Dimensions: 66.3 × 37.4 × 47 cm (26 1/8 × 14 3/4 × 18 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Marshall Field
Reference Number: 1998.158

Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” African Arts, vol. 32, no. 4 (Winter 1999), pp. 18-35; 21 (ill.).

Unnamed owner, New York, N.Y., by 1998; sold to Mr. Marshall Field, Chicago, Ill, 1998; given to the Art Institute, 1998.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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