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An Eighteenth Century Altar Table, from Shanghai
One of the most satisfying harmonies in classic Chinese furniture comes from the combination of opposing qualities: light and dark, heavy and delicate. This superb altar table, for example, combines a formal, massive power with playful elegance. Built entirely of elmwood for a rich man's urban home, it nevertheless mimics the lighter bamboo furniture that was popular during the period—the reign of the Chien Lung emperor at the end of the 18th century. The edges of the long, solid top, the solid apron, legs, and stretchers, are all carved to resemble clustered pieces of bamboo. The piece maintains its original surfaces, and the top its original black lacquer; the resulting contrast is also an attribute of bamboo furniture. The indented waist, pierced with long openwork motifs, gives a further sense of lightness, as do the big spaces underneath, framed by low, humpbacked stretchers, wide braces in the shape of three openwork medallions, and eight openwork spandrels. At each end of the table's surface, the everted flanges mix the bamboo pattern with a layered cloud motif. The table is free-standing, fully decorated on both sides; joinery is mortise and tenon. Priced at $18,000, it measures 103 inches (8 ft. 7in.) long, by 18 inches wide, by 37 inches tall.
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