This stool, though without provenance, probably dates to the Middle Kingdom, when this style of construction – elements well cut from timber planks and well finished – came into fashion.  The four legs are carved to resemble lions’ feet and are set on drums.  This example may have been put together in more modern times from ancient elements, as one leg – the right back – does not quite match, and there are other signs that the stretchers were adjusted, and the over-all width of the stool altered. 

Ancient Egyptian houses, even of the wealthy, had very little furniture, especially compared with most modern Western homes.  Was it a sacrifice for a family to put such a stool into someone’s tomb? Or could it have been a favourite piece of furniture which the living were anxious to leave with the deceased out of fondness or fear?