Name of Artifact:‌ Royal Seat of Office: Female Caryatid (Lupona)

Original Country:‌ Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year of Production:‌ Late 19th-early 20th century

Material:‌ Wood and glass beads

Dimensions:‌ H. 23 1/4 in. (59.1 cm)

Current Location:‌ The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Background Information:‌
This intricately carved wooden seat, featuring a female caryatid, is a royal seat of office from the Luba people of the Shankadi region in southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. By the seventeenth century, the exploitation of rich reserves of salt, iron, palm oil, and fish along the great Congo River led to the establishment of an influential Luba state. Its founding is attributed to the arrival from the east of the hunter prince Mbidi Kiluwe, who introduced a new political order.