Queen Ntombi Twala Of Swaziland (complete set)
Queen Ntombi Twala Of Swaziland (complete set)
Signed Print
Andy Warhol
100 x 80cm, Edition of 40, Screenprint, 1985
£50,000-£80,000
$90,000-$150,000 Market Value Indicator
$90,000-$150,000 Market Value Indicator
¥450,000-¥730,000 Market Value Indicator
€60,000-€90,000 Market Value Indicator
$530,000-$850,000 Market Value Indicator
¥10,400,000-¥16,640,000 Market Value Indicator
$70,000-$110,000 Market Value Indicator
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Meaning & Analysis
Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland (complete set) is a set of four screenprints depicting Queen Ntombi Twala in formal Swazi royal regalia, each print presented in a different colourway. Made in 1985 as part of Warhol's Reigning Queens series in a signed edition of 40 complete sets – among the smallest editions in the series – the individual prints are catalogued as F. & S. II.345–348.
The Reigning Queens series, produced in 1985, comprises sixteen prints across four subjects: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland. Warhol worked from official photographic portraits, applying his established screenprint method – photographic ground, layered flat colour – to produce four colourway variants per subject, each one reframing the official image within a different chromatic register.
Queen Ntombi is depicted in formal dress: an elaborate feathered headdress, beaded collar and traditional garments. She faces the viewer directly, with a composed and open expression. Across the four prints, background and costume elements cycle through royal blue and gold, orange and lavender, red and purple, and yellow and green – each combination altering tone and emphasis while the photographic ground beneath remains constant.
The Reigning Queens prints engage directly with the mechanics of official portraiture – the function of the state image, the relationship between formal likeness and sovereign authority – and subject them to the same serial, colour-field treatment Warhol had applied to Marilyn Monroe or Mao Zedong two decades earlier. An edition of 40 complete sets is among the smallest in his major print portfolios, making the Queen Ntombi configuration particularly uncommon within a selective series.
