WHAT IS THIS LARGE NATURAL WOOD BOWL?

What is this? Mahogany?
Is it a a serving bowl?
It's large; 19" across x 12.5" high
Thanks

 

From a 'burl' , actually just a stump. Decorative purpose only. Not natural, carved.

Certainly not mahogany. Looks like a conifer.

 

It has been cut down to size, smoothed & polished, but think the fundamental shape is how the wood grew. Looks like, as terry said, a stump, with the start of the roots being those projections from the rim. I love pieces like this & have a few, although more conventional bowl shapes made through turning.

 

It's a root bowl, given your location and the look of it , most likely cypress - here's one a bit more complex: https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/d...-vintage-cypress-wood-root-bowl/id-f_8152853/

~Cheryl

 

It does look like it - thank you DragonflyWink!
Thanks Terry5732 (burl is what I was thinking too but couldn't remember name) & Bronwen!

 

Reminds me of this piece by Warren Vienneau I got when my neighbor passed away:

 

I sure wouldn't put any food in it.

 

Moved to Florida in '71, have seen all sorts of stuff out of cypress, some nice and some truly dreadful - did use to make good money on cypress knee lamps, especially if they had decent fiberglass shades.

Marie - that is a lovely, elegant piece!

~Cheryl

 

My family moved to Florida when I was seven (or so). It seems like within a year we had two cypress knee lamps -- and they were a family treasure.

Although I have no clue where they ended up.

 

Looks like cedar to me.

 

Looks like a good place to stash your knitting projects in between working on them.

 

Heh, we didn't have a lamp back when I was a kid, but did have the ubiquitous cypress-slice clock, with a heavy polyurethane or resin coating - sold at a garage sale decades ago. Had a really nice section of knees from a friend's muck farm in Oviedo that ended up in an old boyfriend's gigantic fish tank - looked so cool...

~Cheryl