Kuba Studded Stool with Heart Motif

Hundreds of silver studs. One heart, cut clean through the front.

The Kuba of the Democratic Republic of Congo are known for a courtly culture in which even practical objects were richly decorated, and studding wood with metal tacks turned a household form into a display of prestige. This 20th-century stool is low and long. The top is gently saddle-shaped, rising at each end and dipping at the center. Small studs scatter across the dark brown body, in tighter patterned rows on top.

A heart-shaped opening pierces the center of the front, ringed in studs. Thirty inches long. Sit, or just admire the tacks.