Érodé / Raviné
In English use: Eroded / Channel-furrowed
Eroded, channel-furrowed by weather — softer wood worn away, harder annual rings standing as raised ribs.
The unstoppable passage of time (l'usure du temps) and weather are poetically described in French expertise as érodé (eroded) or raviné (channelled, literally: washed by torrents). On Tiv sculpture (Nigeria) or Malagasy aloalo post-figures that spent generations on an outdoor shrine, rain, wind, and intense sun wear away the softer cellular layers between the annual rings. The hard rings of the African hardwood stand as raised ribs. The result: deep, parallel furrows across an extremely structured grain.
Biological agents complete the work: xylophages (wood-eating insects, especially termites and certain beetle larvae). A sculpture whose base has been partially rongé par les insectes xylophages is not regarded as defective — the alteration transforms the piece into something between human culture and unstoppable nature.