Chinese Wood Altar Table

The legs curve out as if the table had just sat down.

This altar table is elmwood from Shanxi Province, China, 18th century. Long tables like this stood in Chinese homes and temples to hold ancestral tablets, incense and offerings. A row of six recessed panels runs beneath the top, above a thick rounded apron that flows into four bold, curving legs with hoof-like feet. The top is pale and cloudy, while the lower parts are dark and show warm wood in places. It runs 84 inches long and stands 31 high.

Dinner would feel like a formal occasion.