Cameroonian Stool / Side Table

Four rows of teeth and a calm round top. Pick where you look.

This stool or side table was carved from wood in Cameroon, Central Africa, in the 20th century. Carved seats in Cameroon have often stood for more than rest, marking the rank of those allowed to use them, and the bold, repeating patterns made that status easy to see. Four stacked bands of chunky zigzags, separated by thin rounded rails, bulge out between a heavy base and a thick dished seat. Fine rays spread across the top. All of it is a soft black. Twenty and a half inches high and seventeen and a half across.

It is rather more insistent than the average end table.