# Table

- By: Herter Brothers (American, 1864–1906)
- Date: c. 1878
- Medium: Ebonized maple and various inlaid woods
- Classification: Furniture
- Dimensions: 73 × 115.9 × 70.5 cm (28 3/4 × 45 5/8 × 27 3/4 in.)
- Culture: New York City
- Credit line: Gift of the Antiquarian Society
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/44867)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/4315986d-3c8e-3480-5647-0c99813bfd29/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Herter Brothers was one of the leading firms that designed furniture and interiors for the American upper class during the Aesthetic movement. In the late 1870s, the firm began to experiment with Japanese-influenced elements in their designs, reflecting the great fascination with that country—known as Japanism—prevalent in American culture at the time. The ebonized surfaces of this table emulate Japanese lacquerware, while the floral ornamentation is drawn from Japanese lacquerware, paintings, prints, and textiles. However, the overall forms are Western and include elements derived from other cultures, such as the cabinet’s (1986.26) Egyptian Revival paw feet. Aesthetic-movement designers such as Herter Brothers readily combined such eclectic motifs as long as they could still achieve a sense of visual harmony.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0