Cameroonian Stool / Side Table

Count the snakes if you want. They do not appear to be counting you.

This stool or side table comes from Cameroon and is 20th century carved wood. Round openwork stools are associated with the Cameroon Grassfields, where kings and titled men sat on them as signs of rank, and imagery such as the serpent was often tied to power. Here, rows of snakes with incised scales curl into interlocking loops around an open center, heads turned down, with knotted forms inside each coil. A smooth, rounded rim and base hold them in. The top is darker than the rest. Two feet high and three feet in diameter.

Put a drink on it. They will not mind. Probably.