The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 3, 2023

Side Table with Everted Ends

late 1500s–1600s

China, Ming dynasty

(1368–1644)

Redwood veneer and camphor wood

Overall: 88 x 51.8 cm (34 5/8 x 20 3/8 in.)

The Norweb Collection 1955.42

Location

240B Chinese Decorative Arts

Description

The classic Chinese furniture is an art of carpentry and joinery, which makes use of a mortise-and-tenon framework. Design and craftsmanship, coupled with the organic material of the hardwood, create endless aesthetic possibilities. This side table is beautifully carved with cloud-collar spandrels on the aprons as well as openwork panels with cloud-collar patterns inset between the legs and the feet. The table has a narrow top in proportion to its length and bears the detail of the upturned ends that makes it more formal, and possibly used as an altar table.

Provenance
George N. Kates [1895-1990]
?-1955
Mrs. R. Henry [Emery May Holden] Norweb [1895-1984], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1955-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Kates, George N., Caroline Frances Bieber, Beatrice M. Kates, and Hedda Morrison. Chinese Household Furniture. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948. Reproduced: pl. 29, p. 78
Lee, Sherman E. “Chinese Domestic Furniture.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 44, no. 3, 1957, pp. 48–53. Reprodued: p. 51 www.jstor.org
Ellsworth, Robert Hatfield. Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Chʼing Dynasties. New Fairfield, CT: Robert H. Ellsworth, 1997. Mentioned: no. 58, p. 160; Reproduced: p. 250
Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1955.42