Seating Stools

Carved from one block of wood, the seat curved like an open palm. Antique African stools here come from Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea and Ivory Coast, along with stools from China. Ashanti and Akan stools from Ghana include a chief’s stool with an airplane motif and royal stools with feline figures; among the Akan, a stool was closely tied to its owner’s spirit. Bamileke stools from the Cameroon Grasslands are carved with rows of linked dancing figures, and Nupe stools from Nigeria stand on eight legs.

Baga and Senufo stools add more West African forms. Chinese pieces include a walnut barber stool and a folding camp stool from Shanxi, a Guangxi scholar’s rock stool and stone stool tables from Guizhou. A carved stool works as a side table by a sofa, a perch at the end of a bed or a pedestal for a plant. Few objects take up so little room and carry so much weight.