Wood Jiali Chair

A bent-wood arc crowns this chair, with a slim plank holding it together.

This jiali chair dates to the 20th century. It is sand blasted 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. Horseshoe-form back in amber-brown, with a long vertical splat of fine linear grain. The seat has a recessed panel inside a stout frame. Straight legs and a stepped lower rail give a firm stance, with soft rubbed edges. It is 22.5 inches long, 17.5 deep and 30 high.

Solid manners and a very good posture.