Chinese Root Wood Pedestal

Gnarled, blackened column that looks like the inside of a volcano, or a loaf of bread.

This root wood pedestal is from Hebei Province, China, and dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. Collectors generally weigh aesthetics, age, condition, design, origin and provenance when judging antique furniture, though the article argues that scarcity ends up with the greatest influence on value. Color shifts from burnt orange to near-black where the pockets deepen. Tall upright form with a deeply fissured, bumpy surface of swirling ridges and hollows. Rounded edges, no visible tool marks, no flat face. It is 16 inches long, 16 deep and 30 high.

Nature did the carving here, and did not hold back.