Chinese Babu Chuang or Alcove Bed

A dark four-post bed with fretwork on every side, built like a small house.

This babu chuang or alcove bed is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the late 18th century. It is 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. Canopy bed in near-black wood. A carved lattice and geometric fretwork fill the low side rails and the upper frieze. Slender posts hold a flat top, and the platform has simple legs at the base. It is 90 inches long, 77 deep and 102 high.

All openwork and edges, with room to dream.