(清中期金絲楠木透雕長靠背椅) This rare antique long bench with an elaborately carved back rest and arm rests is intricately carved with auspicious and Daoist motifs such as carp, wine gourd, various floral designs, strung coins, fan, sword, scroll, and others. The seat is made of a large plank of single solid board. The two arm rests are beautifully carved and slightly worn with bundled floral design, resting on two supports that are carved like the feet of an incense burner and an oval vase. This bench has been stripped and refinished to blonde, but the finish is slightly faded. It originally was possibly partially painted with different organic color pigments as one can still see traces of organic red color pigment on some tiny carved parts. It is possibly made of rare Jin-Si-Nan-Mu wood.

Gin-Si-Nan-Mu is a very fine and valued wood in ancient China. During the Ming and the Qing Dynasty, this wood was mostly reserved for the building of imperial palaces and furniture pieces used by the imperial families. Because of that, few examples of older furniture pieces made of this wood survived but with some can be dated to Ming. Gin-Si-Nan-Mu is praised for its specks with golden hue like the golden threads in the wood grain. Some parts of the wood has large and dramatic grain pattern like that of a lasting impression of a dramatic sunset. Because it belongs to the camphor family (樟科), sometimes it can be hard to distinguish the two. Gin-Si-Nan-Mu in general has much finer grain and it bears a much more subtle fragrance compared to camphor wood. Therefore, it sometimes is compared to the deed and virtue of a kind person with a gentle nature. The surface of this wood without the dramatic grain is also smooth like that of silk with delicate long straight lines that can barely be seen. This wood is said to be able to repel insects and mosquitoes as well.

Dimensions: 83 1/2"w x 18 1/4"d x 35 1/4"h.

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