Senufo Wood Stool, Ivory Coast

No figures, no fuss. Just a thick slab on legs built like tree trunks.

This stool is Senufo, from Ivory Coast, West Africa, carved from wood in the 20th century. Senufo carvers made stools for daily life, for resting and for sitting among others in the village, and the plainest are often the most satisfying. The wide top curves gently and carries a thin line of incised triangles along one edge. Massive tapering legs carry it down to the ground. The dark brown surface shows nicks and scratches, with paler streaks on the legs. Twenty-four inches high and just under twenty-nine across.

It has no particular message. It holds you up.