Ethiopian Bed with Plaited Leather

Near one corner the weave opens up, and you can see exactly how it was done.

This bed with plaited leather comes from Ethiopia in East Africa and dates to the 19th century. It is wood and leather. Beds of this type served Ethiopian homes for sleeping and sitting, and they follow a simple logic: four posts, four rails and a lacing to hold them together. Here the woven strips are dark and glossy at the edges, opening to a looser lattice near one corner, and the rails glow a warmer orange-brown along the front. The turned legs swell and narrow in a series of beads above rounded feet. Seventy-five inches long, 43 deep, 17 high.

Honest construction, and you can check.