Indian Door Lintel with Central Medallion with Birds

A lintel has one job. Somebody gave it birds anyway.

This door lintel with a central medallion comes from the Andhra Pradesh and Orissa border in India and dates to the 19th century. It is carved teak. In Indian houses and temples the space above a door was a favored place for auspicious imagery, marking the threshold as something worth protecting. A plump bird fills the round central medallion. Two more strut through scrolling foliage, half-round birds close each end, and a braided border frames everything. Forty inches wide and 11.5 high.

The door itself is someone else's problem.