Work Record
Class [controlled]: • decorative arts  • furniture  • African art
*Work Type [link]: • stool
*Title: Stool
*Creator Display: unknown Kamba
*Role [link]: artist   [link]: unknown Kamba
*Creation Date: early to mid-20th century   [controlled]: • Earliest: 1900  • Latest: 1970
*Subject [links]: • object (utilitarian)  • stool  • seating furniture
Culture [link]: • Kamba
*Current Location [link]: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, District of Columbia, United States)  • ID: 89-9-14
Creation Location [link]: Kenya
*Measurements: 13.7 x 24.8 cm (5 3/8 x 9 3/4 inches)
[controlled]: • Value: 13.7  Unit: cm  Type: height  |  • Value: 24.8  Unit: cm  Type: width
*Materials and Techniques: wood with copper alloys and other metal
Material [links]: • wood  • copper alloy  • metal
Description: Kamba artists carve wooden stools with circular seats that are supported by three discoid legs. This stool, intricately ornamented with metalwork, is an example of Kamba art at its most richly decorated. The metalwork inlay requires a skill that has been mastered by few East African groups. The technique requires that thin brass and copper wire be heated and drawn to the proper diameter, then cooled. The wire is spirally wrapped around a fine wire used as a mandrel, in a machine called kilingi. The mandrel is then withdrawn and the coiled wire is pounded into the surface of the stool seat, which has been wetted to soften it.
Description Source [link]: National Museum of African Art online. www.nmafa.si.edu (accessed 29 June 2007)

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