Naga Wood Pounding Table

Four cups in a single slab, and a base dimpled like hammered metal.

This pounding table is Naga, from Nagaland in Northeast India, and dates to the early 20th century. It is jungle wood. Wooden tables with hollows for pounding rice are associated with Naga villages, where the work could be shared. The pale plank top carries a long split running through its four round hollows. Iron brackets tie it to a reddish, deeply dimpled base. It measures 82 inches long, 34 deep and 20 high.

A long crack, and it still has the upper hand.