A RARE HUANGHUALI KANG TABLE WITH FOLDING LEGS, KANGZHUO

Details

A RARE HUANGHUALI KANG TABLE WITH FOLDING LEGS, KANGZHUO
LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

The rectangular paneled top with 'ice-plate' edge supported on cabriole legs, each terminating in a slender leaf cradling a ball, resting on trapezoid pads carved with ruyi cloudheads, the curvilinear aprons well carved in low relief with winged dragons confronting a lotus blossom amid scrolling tendrils, the folded legs originally resting in spaces on the inside of the long aprons, one leg a replacement, folding mechanism missing
8 7/8in. (22.8cm.) high, 29 7/8in. (75.9cm.) wide, 20¼in. (51.5cm.) deep

Literature

Wang et al., Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, p. 86, no. 40

Lot Essay

Compare the collapsible kang table with a similar design, including the winged dragons, also lacking its folding mechanism, sold at Sotheby's, New York, October 10, 1987, lot 414. Another table, with its folding mechanism intact is in the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, Hong Kong

Refer, also, to the huanghuali folding kang table from the Kai-Yin Lo Collection, Hong Kong, illustrated by Wang Shixiang in "Additional Examples of Classical Chinese Furniture", Orientations, January 1992, pp. 40-50, no. 5, and illustrated again by Wang in his article "Mingshi jiaju shili zengbu" ("Additional Examples of Ming-Style Furniture"), in GBY, 1, no. 59, p. 45

For a pair of comparable winged dragons on the aprons of a pair of wardrobes in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, see Craig Clunas, Chinese Furniture, p. 94, no. 81