Bamileke Stools

Please note that it is very common to find cracks and blemishes in African stools (and most African art for that matter). More than often these are repaired by the artists themselves, or the users, and this is especially true of the Bamileke stools.

Bamileke stools are carved from a single tree trunk, but they're distinguished by their round shape and crisscross pattern. Most are polished with a dark shoe stain.

In the Bamileke people they are referred to as the "king's stools" because the most intricate ones were used as seats for tribal chiefs. Depending on the size of the tree trunk they are available in small, medium, large and very rarely extra large sizes.

A large number of these stools are made in the grasslands area of Cameroon.