Chinese Altar Table with Scroll Style Legs

Scroll-ended table that curls like a rolled sheet of paper at each side.

This altar table with scroll style legs is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the 19th century. It is elm wood. Once China slowly opened to visiting diplomats and businessmen, a trickle of antique furniture leaving the country became a flood that lasted through the 1980s, the 1990s and into the early 2000s. Slim table in a deep reddish brown, with a flat top that sweeps down into rounded sides and ends in tight rolled scrolls. The finish is smooth and glossy, with no other ornament. It is 73 inches long, 13.75 deep and 31.5 high.

One long curve, no loose ends.