Chinese-style Side Table

Because of the strong continuity of technique and the regular revival of traditional styles within Chinese furniture-making, it is not easy to date Chinese furnishings such as this teakwood table. The delicate carved decorations on the upper front represent clouds hovering above an endless knot. In Buddhist tradition, the endless knot represents the cycle of death and rebirth and the interrelationship of wisdom and compassion.

Photographs place this Chinese teakwood table in the reception hall of Cranbrook House as early as 1910, where it remained, in various positions, into the 1940s. One of a set of three Chinese tables, this object was among the first works of Chinese art to enter the house, and the Cranbrook collection (see CEC 354; a second Chinese side table appears in photographs circa 1920, but is no longer in the collection). It was soon joined by a wide variety of fine and decorative art from China and East Asia, often purchased through the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts. Within Cranbrook House, art objects originating from many cultures mingled harmoniously, united by one common quality, which the Booths prized in all forms: fine craftsmanship.

Mariam Hale
2023-2025 Collections Fellow
Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
March 2024