French Milking Stool

Out in the barn a stool like this went wherever the work did, three legs to stay steady on an uneven dirt floor and a handle cut through the seat to carry it from one animal to the next. Found in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, this French milking stool is worked from solid wood, a half-round seat pegged onto three splayed legs, the whole thing darkened to a deep honey from years of handling. Three legs were the old answer to rough ground, always finding their footing where a fourth would have rocked, which is why the milking stool kept this shape for centuries. Sylvie stands it beside a chair with a book and a cup left on top, or a small vase of whatever came in from the garden.