Indonesian Stool / Side Table

Pale and bark-like on the outside, nearly black and polished on top, like a tree trunk wearing its best collar.

This stool or side table comes from Indonesia. It is petrified wood. Petrified wood forms over long ages as minerals gradually replace the original wood, so that the grain survives in stone, and Indonesia is a major source of large pieces. This one is a tall, roughly oval column. The sides are a chalky white and cream, ridged with the vertical texture of bark. The top has been cut flat and polished to a dark grey, crossed by a thin pale vein. It is 12 inches wide, 10 deep and 25 high.

Sitting on it is, in a sense, sitting on history.