Chinese Wood Tea Table

Tall square stand on legs that curve outward at the top like shoulders.

This tea table is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the 18th century. It is lacquered elm wood. 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. Dark wood square-top stand with a flat, slightly inset panel top and a molded edge. Scrolled brackets join the legs to the frame, and a square rail box connects the legs near the floor. Finish is deep brown-black. It is 21.5 inches long, 18.75 deep and 33.5 high.

Lean, tall and surprisingly graceful for a plain box of legs.