Cameroonian Wood Stool

Intertwined loops hold up a round tray top with great seriousness.

This wooden stool from Cameroon is from Cameroon, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is wood. In the Grassfields kingdoms of Cameroon, carved wooden stools have traditionally been linked with rank and authority, and the most elaborate examples are associated with chiefs and royal courts. A low stool with a shallow dished seat resting on a tangle of curving, interlaced supports above a flared round foot. Deep chocolate-brown with a worn, glossy patina and a cracked, patched area at the rim of the seat. It is 14 inches wide, 14.5 deep and 14.5 high.

Elegantly knotted, and not in any hurry to unravel.