This antique long low bench in elm wood features a continuous 218 cm top supported by four straight legs with carved brackets at the meeting between legs and top, reinforced with two horizontal stretchers per side. It originates from northern China, from the late Qing dynasty, where elm was worked using traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery.
Chinese low bench-tables — long variants of the table beside the kang — stood against the wall of the main room and served as a resting bench, a service table for floor-seated use or a horizontal display piece. The 218 cm length with 55 cm height places this piece between bench and low table.
The body is built in solid elm. The top is a long continuous panel. The four straight legs continue square to the floor and finish in carved brackets with a scalloped profile where they meet the top. Two horizontal stretchers per side, stepped at mid-height, stiffen the structure. The joinery is traditional Chinese mortise-and-tenon, without metal fasteners.
The elm patina keeps a warm brown tone darkened by decades of use. The top surface shows the natural figure of the grain with soft use marks and small longitudinal cracks. The carved brackets keep their definition and the stretchers present a darker tone characteristic of elm exposed to ambient humidity.
With its 218 cm length and low 55 cm height, this bench-table works as a bench at the foot of a bed, a long low table in living rooms, a console behind a low sofa, a horizontal display table or a decorative piece of character. It suits wabi-sabi, japandi, contemporary rustic and Asian-inspired interiors.
Details
- Dimensions: Length 218 cm – Width 41 cm – Height 55 cm
- Style: Qing Dynasty
- Materials and techniques: Solid elm; traditional Chinese mortise-and-tenon joinery; carved brackets at the meeting between legs and top; double horizontal stretcher per side.
- Place of origin: China
- Period: Late Qing dynasty / Early Republic
- Date of manufacture: Circa 1930
- Condition: Good. Elm top with carved brackets and warm brown patina. Wear consistent with age and use.
This piece is part of the curated collection of Amaru Antiques, Barcelona.
ONE OF A KIND PIECE
