The Chokwe are well known for art objects produced to celebrate and validate the royal court.
In the second half of the 19th century though, considerable development of the trade routes between the Chokwe homelands and the Angolan coast led to increased trade of ivory and rubber.
All members of Chokwe society are divided into two categories: those who are descended from the founding matrilineal lines and those who are descended from former enslaved populations.
Chokwe chiefs possess many elaborately carved articles, including ceremonial weapons, staffs of office, tobacco pipes, and seats of office like this example in the Museum's collection.
The Chokwe kingdom rose to power during the late nineteenth century in the broad expanse of open savanna in the southern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Angola.
Chokwe chairs are among the few African objects not carved from a single piece of wood, but are instead assembled in parts.
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