"KITA CHA ENZI". POWER CHAIR FROM ZANZIBAR in wood inlaid with studded bone plates, the back decorated with flowers and plants, cane upholstery. Seat covered with beige velvet (replaced). (Missing inlays and footrest). Tanzania, Zanzibar, late 19th century. A WOOD WITH BONE INLAY CHAIR OF POWER, "KITA CHA ENZI", TANZANIA, ZANZIBAR, LATE 19TH CENTURY. HEIGHT. 120 CM (47 1/4 IN.) - LARG. 86 CM (33 7/8 IN.) - PROF. 60 CM (23 5/8 IN.) NOTE This "kita cha enzi" (literally "chair of power") represents the culmination of several centuries of development in Swahili furniture. These chairs were only made in Mombasa and on the islands of Pate, Lamu and Zanzibar. The austere decoration of pre-18th-century chairs gave way to the flamboyance of 19th-century models, and finally to the "kita cha enzi". This example is characterised by its angular shape, elaborate caning panels and bone inlays. Although most wealthy families owned at least four pairs of these chairs, and sometimes many more, they were reserved for use by visitors, dignitaries and very important members of the family. Others used low wooden beds or mats on the floor. However, the Swahili chair, in its various forms, was not the exclusive property of the rich and powerful. Although the most beautiful and ornate examples were found in the stone houses of the wealthiest families, smaller, less embellished versions performed similar functions in the mud and thatch houses of the city's poorest families. Typical work of the Arabs of Zanzibar. For a similar example see the armchair in the British Musuem, ref. no. Af1962,03.1. BIBLIOGRAPHY - Ross, Doran H. (1992), Elephant: The Animal and Its Ivory in African Culture, Los Angeles, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 310. - Marla C. Berns, World Arts, Local Lives: The Collections of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, 2014.