Chinese Table Base with Deer Motif

Carved deer scrambles among leaves beneath a black slab, as a console in disguise.

This table base with deer motif is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the 19th century. It is carved & gilded wood & terra cotta. 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. A pierced carving of a deer standing among broad leaves forms the support, set on a flat black plinth. A thick black slab tops the carving. The relief is deeply cut and light brown, with weathered edges. It is 19 inches long, 7.5 deep and 31 high.

Furniture with a forest scene and a very firm roof.