Chinese Parsons Style Altar Table

Low, scroll-shaped table with a surface that looks like lightly weathered driftwood.

This parsons style altar table is from Suizhou Province, China, and dates to the 18th century. It is lacquered pine 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. Here is a long, low table whose top curves down at both ends to form the sides, with no legs. The top is worn pale with darker grain and a few chips. The sides are slim and plain. It is 92.5 inches long, 19.5 deep and 31.5 high.

Neat as a folded page, and simple to love.