Gurage Wood Headrest, Ethiopia

Charred dark at the top and scuffed pale below, with a crack at the foot.

This carved wood headrest is Gurage, from Ethiopia, East Africa. In several African societies a headrest is a personal possession that can be kept for life, and in some places it is placed with its owner at death. Narrower at the top than at the base, this carved slab has a blackened curved upper edge and a heavily scraped, vertically grained face. A pale worn patch sits at the center, and a small hole is near the right edge. It is 7 inches wide, 3.5 deep and 6.75 high.

Rough, serious, and a little battered by its own seriousness.