Chinese Table Base with Foo Lion Motif

Red-gold carved bracket with a clawing beast, turned to hold up a black shelf.

This table base with foo lion motif is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the 19th century. It is carved & gilded wood & terra cotta. 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. Stepped carved frame with panels of relief and a fierce, twisting animal curling underneath. Traces of red and gold remain on the carving. A black upright and thick black top slab join it, and a low black base holds everything. It is 24 inches long, 7.5 deep and 30 high.

Salvaged splendor, now with a practical flat top.