Bamenda Three-Tiered Stool

Three round seats stacked one on another, held apart by thick carved loops.

This three-tiered stool is Bamenda, from the Cameroon grasslands, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is carved wood. Stools in the Cameroon grasslands have long been tied to rank and household status, and many are carved from a single block of wood. Each disc is joined to the next by a ring of arched supports around a faceted central column. The tops of the lower tiers are incised with fine chevron patterns. The dark surface has a soft sheen at the edges. It is 28 inches high and 17.75 in diameter.

One stool would have done. Three shows commitment.