Bamileke Stool with One Row of Figures

One of them has a basket. The others seem to think he is doing enough.

This stool with one row of figures is Bamileke work from Cameroon, Central Africa, carved in wood in the 20th century. Carved seats among the Bamileke have long signaled status, belonging to a world of palaces and titled societies where sitting down carried real meaning. Crested figures with linked arms circle the open base, alternating with thin posts, and a small woven basket stands among them. The heavy top is a thick, slightly dished oval, scored with fine rays. Twenty inches high and twenty-eight across.

It looks like a line nobody plans to leave.