Gnarled Root Table

This unusual display table is formed from the spectacular, gnarled roots of a Chinese cypress tree (baimu). The table dates to the late-Qing dynasty, an era in which an elite class of artists and literati cultivated a taste for nature's unpredictable organic forms. Like a scholar's rock, the table most likely lived in an artist's studio to inspire creativity with its spontaneous, wild beauty. Finished with a flat top, the twisted root form is as much a functional table as it is a work of sculpture.