South Loop Loft

Marquetry of this caliber is officially listed as an Endangered Craft in Britain. Fewer than 100 people still practice it professionally.

This cabinet was made in the 1680s, when Dutch and French masters brought the craft to England at the height of its power. Every petal cut by hand. Every leaf dipped in hot sand to singe the shading. Every vine scratched so it reads like it grew.

The craft is nearly gone. The cabinet remains. Not furniture, exactly, but a record of something made by hand, in a way the world is losing.

There are pieces you find, and pieces that find you. This lacquered Pelletier coffee table — deep red, gilded detail, tiered — has been turning heads on the floor since it arrived. It belongs somewhere with nerve.

Now in view and online.