Vintage Far Eastern Furnishings Chinese Red Lacquer Court-Ladies Low Table Bench

Details

Description

An exceptional vintage Chinese red-lacquer low table by Far Eastern Furnishings Co., distinguished by an extensively hand-incised and hand-painted court-ladies … Read more An exceptional vintage Chinese red-lacquer low table by Far Eastern Furnishings Co., distinguished by an extensively hand-incised and hand-painted court-ladies garden scene, richly patterned architectural framework and surviving original maker’s label bearing Item No. 001319.

Produced in Hong Kong during approximately the 1960s–1970s, the table reflects the company’s mid-century interpretation of traditional Chinese furniture and lacquer decoration. Unlike mass-produced accent furniture with applied transfer designs, nearly every visible surface of this piece has been conceived as part of a unified decorative composition.

The rectangular top centers an elaborate garden scene enclosed within a large shaped cartouche. Five elegantly dressed court ladies gather on a palace terrace beside a pavilion and scholar’s table. Their layered robes, elaborate hairstyles, graceful poses and individual gestures are articulated through fine incised linework and restrained polychrome painting.

Architectural details—including tiled rooflines, geometric windows, balustrades, a bridge and garden structures—create a convincing sense of depth around the figures. Bamboo, ornamental rocks, flowering plants and smaller landscape elements animate the surrounding courtyard.

The predominantly celadon, muted blue, cream, black and gold palette is especially effective against the saturated Chinese-red ground. Rather than overwhelming the room with competing color, these softer secondary tones give the narrative scene a beautifully aged and collected appearance.

The figural cartouche is surrounded by an exceptionally dense diaper-pattern ground composed of repeating interlocking star and floral forms. Diaper grounds have a long history in Chinese decorative art, where tightly repeated geometric patterns were used to frame and visually separate narrative reserves, landscape scenes and symbolic ornament.

Here, the patterned field functions almost like an intricately woven textile surrounding the open garden scene. Its graphic precision provides a compelling counterpoint to the fluid robes, flowering plants and architectural contours inside the central cartouche.

A continuous Greek-key or meander border wraps the raised edge of the tabletop. Beneath it, a pierced architectural gallery incorporates circular openings, shaped brackets, painted floral sprays and contrasting black molding ornamented with scrolling cloud or wave-like motifs.

The decoration continues across the deeply shaped apron and gracefully curved legs. Flowering vines extend around the table’s perimeter, while black molded edges sharpen its sculptural outline. Stylized dark foliate feet provide a dramatic finish at floor level.

This unusually comprehensive treatment is one of the table’s most compelling qualities. The ornament is not limited to the most immediately visible surface: pattern and color continue from the top to the edge, pierced gallery, apron, legs and feet. As a result, the table retains visual interest from nearly every viewing angle.

For the collector of Asian decorative art, the piece offers a particularly appealing combination of identifiable maker, original factory number, traditional subject matter and surviving vintage surface. The original Far Eastern Furnishings Co. label provides a level of documentation often absent from comparable mid-century Chinese export furniture.

Far Eastern Furnishings traces its history to 1954, when the company sold furniture to American sailors during Hong Kong port calls before expanding its international operations. This history places the table within the postwar market for traditionally influenced Asian furniture collected by travelers and exported for sophisticated Western interiors.

The court-ladies garden subject also connects the table to a much older Chinese decorative tradition. Palace women, scholars, pavilions, garden terraces and richly framed narrative scenes appear throughout historic Chinese paintings, screens, lacquerware and export furnishings. This table is not represented as an antique or imperial work; rather, it is a well-executed vintage interpretation of that enduring visual vocabulary.

From an interior-design perspective, its proportions are exceptionally useful. At 41 inches wide and only 16 inches high, the table can function as a traditional low tea table, cocktail table or statement coffee table without visually closing off the surrounding seating arrangement.

Its saturated red lacquer makes it a natural focal point in a library, drawing room, garden room, conservatory, formal living room or richly layered bedroom. The low silhouette allows the detailed top to remain visible, giving the table the visual presence of a large decorative panel positioned horizontally within the room.

The color is especially compelling in traditional interiors built around indigo, celadon, olive green, chocolate brown, tobacco leather or warm neutral textiles. It would be beautifully styled with blue-and-white porcelain, Chinese export objects, celadon ceramics, lacquerware, antique brass, bamboo furniture, botanical art or dark polished wood.

Within a quieter room, the table can serve as the single decisive note of color. In a more layered interior, it can anchor patterned upholstery, collected textiles and objects accumulated over time. Its combination of brilliant lacquer and visible vintage patina makes it equally appropriate for Chinoiserie, English Country, Grandmillennial, Hollywood Regency, Global Traditional, maximalist and Ralph Lauren–inspired settings.

The table’s age-related wear contributes to its credibility as an authentically used vintage furnishing. The surface has not been refinished or cosmetically homogenized, allowing the original hand-worked decoration, softened lacquer and accumulated patina to remain intact.

This is the type of furniture that gives a room history and specificity: an identifiable, highly decorated object with enough visual presence to shape an entire seating area, yet sufficiently functional to remain part of everyday living.

A distinctive and highly decorative example of vintage Hong Kong furniture, combining traditional Chinese court imagery, extensive hand-worked surface ornament, sophisticated low-table proportions and documented Far Eastern Furnishings provenance.

DESIGN AND COLLECTOR SIGNIFICANCE
The table’s principal collector attributes are its surviving Far Eastern Furnishings Co. label, legible Item No. 001319, extensive hand-incised and painted decoration and unusually complete original surface.

Although vintage Chinese red-lacquer tables appear periodically on the secondary market, directly labeled examples with this combination of figural painting, geometric diaper work, pierced architectural construction and decoration extending across the entire base are considerably less common.

The label connects the piece to a documented mid-century Hong Kong furniture company rather than leaving it as an anonymous decorative table. Its factory number may also assist future comparison should related examples or historical catalog materials become available.

The table is best understood as a vintage decorative furnishing inspired by traditional Chinese lacquerwork. It is not cataloged as an antique Chinese table, imperial object or example of carved cinnabar lacquer.

MAKER’S LABEL AND IDENTIFICATION
The underside retains its original paper label reading “Far Eastern Furnishings Co.” together with the Chinese characters 遠東家具 and factory Item No. 001319.

Although the paper label displays age-related staining, ink marks, worn edges and partial paper loss, the company name, Chinese characters and item number remain identifiable.

Far Eastern Furnishings traces its history to 1954 and describes its earliest business as supplying Asian-inspired furniture to American sailors during Hong Kong port calls before expanding internationally.

The circa-1960s–1970s date is an informed estimate based on the original label, construction, decorative treatment, materials and stylistic presentation. No dated sales receipt or corresponding factory catalog accompanies the table.

PROVENANCE
Private collection
Far Eastern Furnishings Co., Hong Kong
Retains original maker’s label and Item No. 001319

KEYWORDS
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