Gurage Wood House Post, Based

Eleven feet of dark timber, tapered to a point like a quill.

Gurage builders of Ethiopia, East Africa, made this house post in wood in the 20th century. House posts in the region commonly serve as central supports for a dwelling, and are often left plain and structural. This one is a single long, slender shaft, narrowing steadily toward the top. The surface is nearly black, smooth in places and faintly ridged in others, with a gentle sideways lean in the grain. It stands upright on a small square steel base plate.

About 132 inches tall. It will rule a stairwell, and ask for nothing.