Coffee Table, Antique Hardwood Slab, and Brass Bases
We just finished this table: a single slab of antique Chicken-Wing wood (鸡翅木, Jīchì mù). The slab is at least one hundred years old and has a particularly attractive woodgrain. This wood was highly sought after during the 17th and 18th century in China. We slightly bleached the wood and added various layers of oil. We mounted the slab on our newly developed brass base.
- Top Chicken-Wing Wood (鸡翅木, Jīchì mù)
- Finish Bleached + Diamond Oiled
- Base PT13 Extruded and Hand-Welded Brass
- Finish Golden Sand
- Size W 209 x D 69 x H 34 cm
- W 82.3 x D 27.2 x H 13.4 in
Antique Hardwood
P. Tendercool founders are former antique dealers who collected about 200 slabs of antique Chicken-Wing Wood (鸡翅木, Jīchì mù) over a period of 15 years. This wood was venerated during the ‘Ming’ dynasty and coveted by literati and scholars for its beautiful grain, “…like feathers of a bird…”
Our slabs were collected in Northern Vietnam, close to the Chinese border. Back in the 19th century, villagers would place two identical ‘Slices’ of the same tree next to each other, directly on the floor, to serve as a dry platform to sit, eat, and sleep on. This explains why our slabs come in pairs, typically about a person’s size, in various thicknesses. Inspection of the underside shows they were clearly cut by hand (pre-machine age!), without traces of legs nor decoration. Unlike the Chinese refined ‘Kang’ tables for the well-to-do, these 19th century slabs were purely functional furniture.
The simple fact these wooden slabs still exist is proof of their stone-hard quality: many decades of humid-hot, termite-infested surroundings have had no noticeable effect other than them remaining solid witnesses of a bygone era. We keep them in their original unfinished state awaiting clients’ preferences. We currently own two hundred slabs, an extraordinary collection for you to select from.
Table Bases
Our table-bases are sand cast by hand, one by one, by Octogenarian Armando Beato and his team. Armando started working with his uncle when he was fourteen and even worked for artists like Salvador Dalí. Care for a better reference?
Most of our bases are available in Bronze, Brass or Aluminum in a number of finishes. Download our catalogue to learn more.