Chinese Altar or Reception Table with Lower Shelf

Square table with stepped edges, a carved frieze, and a lower shelf.

This altar or reception table with lower shelf is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the mid 19th century. 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. Square table in warm reddish brown with a smooth top and layered molded edge. A carved key-fret frieze runs below, and a flat shelf sits between slim legs. Small corner brackets and hoof feet. It is 33 inches long, 33 deep and 34.5 high.

Square, neat, and sure about its shelves.