16th/17th century

No other furniture form is so closely associated with the Chinese literati than the painting table. The focus of the scholar's studio, it could accomodate both official work as a desk and the creative activity of painting, calligraphy, and composing poems. The present example is rare with its unusually large, single panel nanmu burl top. A huanghuali waistless table with deep top, corner legs and 'giant's arm' braces is illustrated by R.H. Ellsworth et al., Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, p.159. See another huanghuali and burlwood painting table sold in these rooms, The Dr. S.Y. Yip Collection of Fine and Important Classical Chinese Furniture, 20 September 2002, lot 65.
See detail of 'gold-flecked' top (this page), and 'giant's arm' brace (previous page).