Naga Ancestral House Post

Horns at the top, a man in the middle, a skull at his feet, and all of it wood.

This ancestral house post is Naga, from Nagaland in Northeast India, 19th century, in carved wood. Naga carvers decorated the house posts of prominent families with mithun heads, figures and skull motifs that told visitors about a household's standing and its feasts of merit. The relief runs down a dark, narrow trunk: a broad-horned head, then a figure in a tall crest, then a carved skull with long teeth. Forked uprights end the top. It stands 115 inches high and 15 wide.

It reads from top to bottom, and it takes its time.