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Lot Essay
Demountable trestle-leg tables, which are made to be easily disassembled to facilitate support, are quite rare, and few extant examples are known. Tables of the present type tend to feature long, single-plank tops and thick members, as their demountable form easily facilitates transport. These tables also feature aprons with integral spandrels which are joined in tongue-grooved fashion to the trestle legs, providing added structural support.
There appear to be two main types of demountable recessed trestle-leg tables. The first exhibits straight legs which are set into shoe feet, such as an example sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2023. The second variant, as seen on the present table, has everted feet flanking raised aprons. A larger (245 cm.) tielimu table of this latter form, with openwork panels carved in very similar fashion, is illustrated in Ming Qing Gong Ting Jia Jiu Da Guan, Beijing, 2006, pp. 266-67, no. 306, where it is dated to the Ming dynasty.
There appear to be two main types of demountable recessed trestle-leg tables. The first exhibits straight legs which are set into shoe feet, such as an example sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2023. The second variant, as seen on the present table, has everted feet flanking raised aprons. A larger (245 cm.) tielimu table of this latter form, with openwork panels carved in very similar fashion, is illustrated in Ming Qing Gong Ting Jia Jiu Da Guan, Beijing, 2006, pp. 266-67, no. 306, where it is dated to the Ming dynasty.