Lobi Wood Studded Chair

Three legs, one long back, and a small face keeping watch at the top.

This studded chair is Lobi, from Burkina Faso in West Africa, and dates to the 19th century. It is wood and metal studs. Among the Lobi, carved seats were personal possessions, kept close and often associated with men of standing, though customs varied. A single dished seat runs up into a long sloped back, on three stout round legs. Rows of metal studs trace chevrons, lines and a circle across the warm brown wood, and the top ends in a head with studded eyes. Fifty-eight inches long and thirty-four high.

Few chairs recline this far and watch you this closely.