Chinese Altar or Writing Table with 3 Drawers

A narrow writing table with three drawers and legs that end in neat little hooves.

This altar or writing table with 3 drawers is from Shandong Province, China, and dates to the mid 19th century. It is lacquered elm wood. As original period furniture became harder to find, restoration artists began salvaging fragments from incomplete pieces to make complete ones, and eventually full reproductions began to surface. Rectangular table with a flat top and three shallow drawers, each fitted with a small ring pull. Four straight legs finish in rounded, outward-turned feet. Dark brown finish, a little paler where hands have rested. It is 41 inches long, 17.5 deep and 30.25 high.

Plenty of leg room and no pretension about it.