Provincial Chinese Courtyard Bench, c. 1880

During the Qing dynasty, long benches such as this were used as shared seating and were often found in public spaces like temples, theaters, or courtyards. Crafted in China's Shanxi province over 150 years ago, this low bench has a timeless form that highlights the organic beauty of northern elmwood (yumu). We love this traditional bench...

These early 20th century elmwood benches would have originally resided in the courtyard of a Qing-dynasty home to provide much-needed outdoor seating on hot summer days. The benches ...

The painted exterior of this provincial farmhouse bench has weathered gradually from years of use to achieve the ultimate rustic finish. Once a vibrant, robin’s egg blue, the milk pa...

Dated to the turn of the century, this provincial stool would have been used throughout a courtyard home as versatile everyday seating. Hand-crafted of pine, the tapered stool...

More portable than chairs, stools were a versatile seating option for Qing-dynasty scholars, nobles, and peasants alike. This Provincial stool dates to the turn of the century and wo...

This lovely, low-profile table once served up wine, food, and board games to guests who sat or reclined on a platform or floor. Made of Chinese northern ...

The elegantly simple 19th century elmwood bench has the clean restraint of Classic Chinese Minimalist forms, Elegantly simple in design from China's Zhejiang province celebrates the...

A chic and modern-in-spirit 19th century American pine single plank-top bench with simple legs and exaggerated wide spandrels.

Set of French pine wood benches in very good condition. Made of solid pine wood slats which are connected with typical joints. The style reminds of Scandinavian modernism, like Swe...

Large wooden folk art bench or cocktail table.

This 1930s Italian bench is so over-scaled, and monumental in appearance, that it seems to have been made for the large room it was destined, rather than the comfort of a typical sitter. As such, it would function equally well as a low side table or a high cocktail table. We’ll allow the buyer to determine its use. The designer was Pierluigi Colli, and the fabricator Martinotti, the Turin furniture and interior decorating firm that was established in 1831, and exhibited at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition and the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair. Colli’s family owned a textile company that supplied Martinotti with upholstery fabrics, suggesting nepotism had something to do with his being hired as the firm's director in 1926. Nevertheless, he proved himself worthy as a designer and a businessman. Having studied in Paris at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs, he befriended leading French designers, and arranged for Martinotti to retail Lalique glass and Jean Perzel lighting. In addition, the quality of their work, and Colli’s dedication to the modern design movement, prompted Carlo Mollino, Gio Ponti, and Gino Levi-Montalcini, among others, to have Martinotti fabricate some of their furniture. Colli’s claim to fame, however, is his own work as a designer, and his ability to master the vocabularies of every trend from Art Deco to midcentury modern. During the Great Depression, when nearly every nation floundered economically, fascist Italy...

1960s organic bench. Solid walnut bench with dovetails. Can also be used as a coffee table.