Eight Dragon Bench

Carved dragons swirl on the spandrels of this 19th-century bench, animating the surface and imbuing the piece with auspicious meaning. Sourced from China’s Shanxi region, walnut was a prized material for Qing-dynasty furniture. Richly colored and displaying an open-grained texture, the wood was ideal for the refined workmanship of the era. What’s more it offered a distinctive fragrance when freshly worked.