Side Table (1600s): Art, History and Details

Side Table (1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Long, rectangular tables were often placed against a wall to hold candlestands, flower vases, or incense burners. It was customary to hang ancestor portraits, images of religious figures, or seasonal paintings above the table that would convey auspicious wishes and blessings to the family. The high legs show stylized cloud-shaped spandrels. At each end of the table, between the recessed legs, are carved openwork panels with a lively dragon motif.

Object facts

• Title: Side Table
• Date: 1600s
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368-1644) or Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
• Type: Furniture and woodwork
• Technique: Rosewood (huanghuali)
• Dimensions: Overall: 86.4 x 199.4 x 41.9 cm (34 x 78 1/2 x 16 1/2 in.)
• Collection: China - Ming Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1964.229

A detail from the museum

The table top is made of a single plank of wood.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of the Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1990.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.