Naga Ancestral House Post

Almost all of it is plain wood. Then, low down, two pointed ovals stare back.

This ancestral house post is Naga, from Nagaland in Northeast India, carved wood, late 19th or early 20th century. Among many Naga communities, carved house posts have been linked to family standing and to feasts of merit, though practices varied between groups. A single narrow plank runs nearly its full length in vertical gouge marks. Low on the shaft, the two ovals stack between crossed lines. The surface is grey-brown and looks weathered. It stands 164 inches high and 19 wide.

Restraint, at over thirteen feet.