Indonesian Rice Pounding Vessel

Its rim has split into ribbons of grain, as if the wood remembers being a tree.

This rice pounding vessel comes from Java, Indonesia, in teak wood. Wooden mortars like this were long used across the Indonesian archipelago for husking rice, a heavy rhythmic job often shared among several people. This one is squat and sturdy, with a wide mouth, a slightly tapered body and a thick flared foot. Deep cracks and weathering have opened the end grain at the rim into concentric layers, and the warm brown surface is furrowed all over. It is 15.5 inches wide, 15.5 deep and 21 high.

Short, stout and entirely unbothered.