The Island of Nias, southwest of Sumatra, is famous for its megalith culture. Here, light-coloured limestone was used to produce large ancestral sculptures and wide platforms with relief decorations, high steles, monuments, tables, benches, honorary seats and ‘thrones’ for chiefs and noblemen, stone sarcophagi and these 'Osa osa’ seats made of stone. The present, typical 'Osa osa’ stone-seat from the Island of Nias was used in memory of a mythical ancestor, an influential chief (still living or dead), an important member of the aristocracy (man or woman) or of an extraordinary event. The ‘Osa osa’ is chiselled from a single block. It displays a rectangular, rounded seat. In front, the head of a mythical composite being with horns, called ‘Lasara’, protrudes upwards from the seat. Such ‘Lasara’ heads decorated the hilts of the chiefs’ swords. The ‘Lasara’ wears a choker called ‘Kalabubu’ around its neck. These ‘Kalabubu’ necklaces were previously reserved for only successful warriors and head hunters. On the back, the tail of a hornbill, the ‘holy bird’ concludes the seat. The long sides of the ‘Osa osa’ are decorated with animal legs in relief. This extremely rare object is hollowed out on the underside. This cavity suggests that this ‘Osa osa’ seat was originally placed atop a high stone stele (‘Behu’) or on a stone monument. It displays good patina from weathering on the surface of the limestone, as well as minor repairs with modern cement on the underside, which were executed at a later date. Otherwise minor age-related damage: Between the 19th and early 20th centuries (aside from the repairs to the underside, executed at a later date); dimensions: 50 cm x 30 cm x 45 cm. (ME)

Provenance: Belgian collection.

Literature: ‘Nias: Tribal Treasures’, catalogue, Ethnological Museum of Nusantara, Delft, colour-plates 2, 3, ill.: 7, 8, 10 to 16; 'Messages de pierre' by Jean Paul Barbier, ill. 17, 63 to 69, 70 to 76.