Throne of King Nsa'ngu

INITIAL REACTION: There are many colors in this piece that play very well together. The blue accentuates the red very nicely. The hints of white give nice details to the piece. The lines in the piece allow the viewer to know what piece of the sculpture belong to which subject. There are multiple subjects of this sculpture, but the ones at the top seem most important as they are the biggest.

RESEARCH REACTION: While looking through the book I discovered that this sculpture was made by a Cameroon artist. The two figures in the back are twins, the court guardians. They are both fertility symbols as well. There is a male (on the left) and a female (on the right); the male holds a drinking horn, and the female hold an offering bowl. Njoya's footrest is made to look like armed guards which stand over images of councilors, which symbolizes wisdom. The serpents on the seat symbolize his strength in battles. Thrones like this were kept inside the palace and moved by throne bearers when the king held audiences in front of the palace.

REFERENCES:

O'Riley, Michael Kampen. "The Pacific." In Art Beyond the West, 260-261. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.

FIGURE 1:
http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/african-art-final/deck/9427029