Chinese Low Table with Rattan Inset Top

Low platform seat with a woven mat top and round, slim legs.

This low table with rattan inset top is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the late 19th century. It is elm wood & rattan. Tibetans were traditionally semi-nomadic and owned few personal furnishings, so most Tibetan furniture stood in monasteries, and some of it was carted over the Himalayas to India as monasteries were destroyed. Rectangular frame holds a flat panel of woven texture in pale tan. Four round legs sit slightly inside the corners, each joined by a small curved bracket. The border is dark reddish brown with a smooth worn finish. It is 59 inches long, 34 deep and 20 high.

Built close to the floor, and quite comfortable with that.