Gurage Ethiopian House Post - Late 19th/Early 20th Century
With a beautiful dark patina of regular use, and dating from the late 19th or early 20th century, this thick board with its deeply inscribed vertical lines, is of the type used by the Gurage people of Ethiopia. Planted upright in the ground, as seen by the lower section, lighter and less exposed to the elements, ‘house posts’ such as this would be used functionally and decoratively. With a groove at the side allowing it to be joined with further posts by a cross-section of wood resting along the ground, these house posts were either placed in front of the dwelling as a protective ward, ensuring sleep or barring spirits from entry, or inside as both a room divider and marker within the complex social and spiritual system of the Gurage.
Dimensions: H 213cm, W 22cm, D 6cm.
With a beautiful dark patina of regular use, and dating from the late 19th or early 20th century, this thick board with its deeply inscribed vertical lines, is of the type used by the Gurage people of Ethiopia. Planted upright in the ground, as seen by the lower section, lighter and less exposed to the elements, ‘house posts’ such as this would be used functionally and decoratively. With a groove at the side allowing it to be joined with further posts by a cross-section of wood resting along the ground, these house posts were either placed in front of the dwelling as a protective ward, ensuring sleep or barring spirits from entry, or inside as both a room divider and marker within the complex social and spiritual system of the Gurage.
Dimensions: H 213cm, W 22cm, D 6cm.
With a beautiful dark patina of regular use, and dating from the late 19th or early 20th century, this thick board with its deeply inscribed vertical lines, is of the type used by the Gurage people of Ethiopia. Planted upright in the ground, as seen by the lower section, lighter and less exposed to the elements, ‘house posts’ such as this would be used functionally and decoratively. With a groove at the side allowing it to be joined with further posts by a cross-section of wood resting along the ground, these house posts were either placed in front of the dwelling as a protective ward, ensuring sleep or barring spirits from entry, or inside as both a room divider and marker within the complex social and spiritual system of the Gurage.
Dimensions: H 213cm, W 22cm, D 6cm.