Tripod cowherd stools

Duo of tripod stools, often called cowherd stools. They are made of dark lacquered solid wood, in a brutalist, minimalist style, probably made by an amateur craftsman for his own use, family or on his farm. They will make perfect side seats, bedside tables or pieces of sofas in a wabi sabi spirit, with their history, their past and their flaws. The way of fitting the feet into the seat is unusual, and very malignant: the high end of the feet has been incised, then once the foot is inserted into the seat with holes from side to side, a small thin piece of wood enters from above into the slot of the foot, spreading the wood and thus making the foot attached to the seat. This results in good solidity, but also a raw appearance of the seat (apparent mounting with irregularities). The casing has been reinforced with glue that can still be seen underneath. This confirms the hypothesis of manufacturing for use, for function, without seeking aesthetics. They seem rather old to me, probably from the first half of the 20th century. The appearance of the two-foot end tends to confirm this, the wood has disintegrated in places under the attacks of beetles. The gaps being only on part of the foot, the stools remain very solid and stable, but obviously, they do not hide their age: beetle holes on the feet (old, not active it seems to me, but that I still treated by a generous brushing of household vinegar, it is my natural method to replace the chemical insecticide), various marks and stains. The two feet mentioned above were given special treatment: I removed, scraped, the parts too wormed and reinforced the healthier wood with colorless diluted wood glue. After a cleaning, I passed a little walnut husk to unify the colors. One is 36 cm high, the other 40. The seats measure 25 by 26 cm, and 3 cm thick.