Chinese Dining Table with Stone Inset Top

Three slabs of stone, each with its own opinion about color.

This dining table with stone inset top comes from Hebei Province, China, and is contemporary, in elm wood and stone. Tables like this are made for shared meals, and stone panels, long used in Chinese furniture, gave a hard, cool surface whose markings were admired much like paintings. Three mottled panels of green and cream are set into a red-brown frame. Square legs step down to small hoof-like feet, joined to the apron by curved braces at the corners. The frame's color deepens and thins along its edges. Ninety-four inches long, 39.25 deep and 31 high.

Guests will look at the table before they look at the food.