EARLY QING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY

The term banzhuo, or 'half-table', is typically given to tables of this type without long surfaces. As noted by Wang Shixiang in, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, vol. I, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 54-55, the banzhuo has sometimes also been referred to as a jiezhuo, literally meaning extension table. "The name (extension table) comes from the practice of using these tables to augment the size of the largest square table known as the 'eight immortals table' or baxianzhuo. Banzhuo literally means "half table" and is so-called from its size which is approximately half that of the 'eight immortals table'." Wang also goes on to explain that the banzhuo was mainly used for serving wine and food, and was gradually replaced by the circular table during the mid-Qing period.

A table of similar shape and proportion is illustrated by R.H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ch'ing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1971, pl. 66.