Chinese Rustic Altar Table

Long, low bench with two slab legs and the confidence of something that has seated crowds.

This rustic altar table is from Hebei Province, China, and dates to the 19th century. It is 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. Narrow rectangular top with thick edges, supported at each end by a flat splayed leg shaped with a pointed notch. Surface glows orange-brown, with grain visible and the usual rubbed softness along the edges. It is 99 inches long, 15 deep and 33.75 high.

A seat for several, with no interest in cushions.