Early 20th Century Force Publique Congolese Stool w/ Fez Hat

O

Olskiptooth

New member
Looking for any information that anyone may have about this sort of stool. I am bringing it to a museum later this week for further identification.

Pictures say it all, let me know if you have any ideas.

Thrift stores can harbor some amazing finds!
 
Shame you didn't have someone carve ss runes on the hats, and send the pics to Wehrmach awards,, There would have been dozens of replies by now as to what it was and who presented it to who and for what . They just love to discuss these kind of things! . Take a look at their thread for carved Boxes!, If they believe some of the nonsense spoken there, I am sure your stool would also be valued by them as priceless by this time.
 
Why would someone want to carve "SS" runes on an African stool?

The stool is clearly African, from which part of the country I cannot say for sure. I would have thought that anyone could have figured that one out by viewing the two photos provided here, by "Olskiptooth" who was looking for a helpful answer. I didn't know that anyone on such a fine forum as this would care to denigrate another forum, or others on here who find different forums useful.

The legs of the stool are clearly black/African faces wearing a fez as is typical in Muslim countries in Africa. Egypt comes to mind, as does Morocco, etc. The carved face legs certainly don't look very "aryian" by any means, in my humble opinion.

As a side note to everyone that may not know me, I do not collect third reich memorabilia. I do enjoy the friendships & sharing of knowledge on this fine forum, and on the Imperial section of Wehrmacht-Awards forum as well. It's a privilege to be able to discuss Imperial German topics & the items of other WW1 countries on both such forums.

All the Best,

Alan
 
Hi,

African Yes, Muslim No -- as Muslims are forbiden (by religion) to represent living species, that why their art is geometrical.
 
Hmmmmmm.....
Am I wrong there???? #-o I must have missed something?????
I always tought this was here a WWI headgear forum???? :scratch: :confused5:

Philippe
 
For those of you taking this forum and discussion seriously, thank you.
Any SS or otherwise out of place discussion for this thread will be ignored.

In case it was unclear, my connection to the forum and this thread is that the hats worn by the figures that make up the legs of the stool are fez hats. These hats have been worn by many groups, including through the era of WW1.

That said, I have learned the figures are in fact representations of Force Publique officers from the Belgian Congo. Probably made during the early 20th century for a non-native in the Congo, this stool more than likely had no ceremonial significance although it is unclear.

While there are many representations of Muslim people wearing the fez cap, both in art and the mass media (Muslims can certainly represent living species in their art, the earliest forms of Islam did not allow reproduction of human faces, but that has changed significantly in the past few hundred years) these are not African Muslims but Congolese Africans forced into a sort of enslaved military by Belgian officials.

Any specific information concerning the style, size, or adornment of the fez caps on this stool would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for all of you that have read and commented with sincerity.
 
Chlodovech said:
Hi,

African Yes, Muslim No -- as Muslims are forbiden (by religion) to represent living species, that why their art is geometrical.
Click to expand...

I used to think that too, but it's not the case. Take a look:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/figs/hd_figs.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:D Ron
 
Thank you Ron,

One should not come too fast to conclusion.
I see now that there is a difference between religious and secular art. 8-[

I always though that your motto was soooo true !!!
 
Always learning. I really don't know about any exceptions to religious art (which means you were also right), but I didn't see any figural representations when I was in KU and IQ. I did see an interesting billboard stating that with Islam, one could reach paradise. There was a painting of a green, hilly area with a small lake and river, trees, etc. on it to reenforce the idea. I realized then that it looked a lot like my area of Wisconsin. I guess I live in Paradise! :)
By the way, I really liked the people in Kuwait and Iraq. They make friends by offering food to them... gotta love that!

:D Ron
 
Very interesting stool.

As noted in other threads, the fez was a common headgear for askari and other colonial troops by the European powers. It was cheap to make, was already a common civilian headgear and probably for the Europeans allowed them to feel superior. Europeans never wore the fez, as it represented a "backwardness."

The fez was banned in Turkey for that very reason.

In fact, you can see that as the colonial troops gained more respect they were allowed to adopt and wear European headdress. The King's African Rifles wore a fez and cover in WWI, but by WWII were wearing the same slouch hats as the NCOs a generation earlier.
 
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