A ZITAN WAISTLESS RECESSED-LEG SIDE TABLE, PINGTOUAN

Tables of this elegant and restrained form, with graceful splay of the legs, trace their origins to furniture design of the Ming dynasty, and several variations on this type are known. See Ming Qing Guting Jiaju Da Guan, Beijing, 2006, p. 183, no. 190, for a zitan table dated Ming dynasty; p. 188, no. 198, for another Ming dynasty example in zitan, although with shaped aprons and spandrels; and p. 190, no. 200, for a third zitan example, dated early Qing dynasty, although with single stretchers and deeply beaded spandrels.