Chinese Table Base with Deer Motif

Deer, a monkey and a heap of fruit hold up this black-topped carving.

This table base with deer motif is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the 19th century. It is carved & gilded wood & terra cotta. 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. A standing deer faces left with a small figure above in the branches. Clusters of round fruit and leaves climb behind. The carving rests on a rectangular black base and holds a dark slab at the top. Soft honey tone. It is 19 inches long, 7.5 deep and 31 high.

A whole menagerie working as a shelf support.