Bamileke Wood Bed: Spider Design Sides

Low, narrow, and patterned with spiders. Sleep well.

This bed with spider design sides is Bamileke, from Cameroon in Central Africa, 20th century, made of wood. Among the Bamileke and their neighbors, the spider is associated with wisdom and divination, and carved furniture often pointed to the rank of the person who owned it. A long plank top shows tan and rust tones across a dry-looking surface. Below it, the side is cut through in a running band of star-like openwork from end to end. Fifty-six inches long and just six high.

The spider, it is said, knows things. It is not telling.