Ethiopian Bed with Plaited Leather

Twenty-one inches high, on legs with collars sharp enough to notice.

This bed with plaited leather is from Ethiopia in East Africa, 19th century, made of wood and leather. Ethiopian households used such beds for sleeping and for seating visitors, and turned legs and laced leather are among the most recognizable features of older examples. The legs here are especially crisp, each with two faceted collars above a rounded foot. Thick posts carry carved notches and small eye-shaped details where they grip the rails. Bands of leather wrap the frame, and a shaggy, patchy weave of tan and brown fills the center. Seventy-four inches long, 46 deep, 21 high.

It looks ready to stand up and leave, if asked.