Baga Wood Stool, Guinea

A stool with a head, a tail and the patient look of a working animal.

This stool is Baga, from Guinea, West Africa, made in the 20th century of carved wood. Baga carvers are known for bold animal and human forms, and in much of West Africa a carved seat was a personal possession that said something about its owner's standing. Here the seat dips between two upright points, set on four thick, wedge-shaped legs. A long neck stretches forward to a drooping head with a carved ear, and a curved tail hangs behind. White paint covers the surface, rubbed down to brown along the seat and in scattered patches. Thirty-one inches long and 15.5 high.

It has never once complained about being sat on.