Rare 4 legged hand carved stool. It is in great rustic antique condition with a split in the seat from age with most of the beads missing from use. It was used and not an early tourist piece. It is about 10" tall and 11" across. Only the male seats were traditionally decorated.
The traditional Gĩkũyũ stool was called the gĩturwa, (plural: iturwa) and was carved from a tree trunk as a whole piece without jointing. It was made by a professional wood carver known as mwai wa itĩ. The trees used for this work were mũringa, mũnunga, mũkũyũ, mũhũtĩ, mũrurĩ, mũthaitĩ and the mũkũi. One could buy the stool from the carver or if one had a tree already felled he could call the carver and they would share the stools from the tree. The blocks near the base would make the four legged iturwa of up to 16 inches in diameter and as the tree got thinner would be made into four legged smaller tũturwa as small as 5 inches diameter. The four legs were always preferred especially for the bigger ones. The seat was always a perfect circle and hollowed out slightly to accommodate a bum. It really is quite comfortable and much friendlier to the backbone than the modern sofa. It is comparable to using the eastern squatting toilet as opposed to the western seating toilet. Traditional squatting is most comfortable and apparently healthier.