Chinese Wood Altar Table

Plain grey-brown table with chunky legs and the patience of a long afternoon.

This altar table is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the 18th 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. The form is a long narrow table with a thick top, darkened and rough with age. Splayed, flat legs with simple brackets support it. The finish is dry and grey-brown, with worn corners. It is 65.5 inches long, 14.5 deep and 33 high.

Not a single flourish, and it holds up fine.