Chinese Door Lintel with Dragons, Phoenix & Mythological Creature Motif

Carved beam with writhing creatures at each end and a hook dangling from the middle.

This door lintel with dragons, phoenix & mythological creature motif is by Carved Poplar, from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the 17th or 18th century. Once China slowly opened to visiting diplomats and businessmen, a trickle of antique furniture leaving the country became a flood that lasted through the 1980s, the 1990s and into the early 2000s. Long horizontal beam with raised, curling figures at the left and right ends and a central medallion. A small hanging ring sits below the middle. Soft gray-tan surface with shadowed detail and chips at the edges. It is 94 inches long, 9 deep and 20 high.

Dragons, or something like them, doing structural work.