Ashanti Royal Stool Depicting Feline

Brass, tacked on in sheets, patterned like scales. On the top, a gently curved seat edged in scalloped detail. Below it, a cat.

This Ashanti stool from Ghana is early twentieth century, brass over wood. A column wrapped in a diamond lattice rises from the cat’s back to hold the seat up. The cat lies at rest on a long base, with something bundled in its mouth, and a tiny second animal peers out near its tail.

The Ashanti have a long fondness for animals as proverbs. This one is in no hurry to explain itself.

It has the patience of a cat.