LATE MING DYNASTY

Details

A VERY RARE HUANGHUALI PLANK-TOP TABLE, QIAOTOU ZHUO
LATE MING DYNASTY
Of substantial material, the single plank top of well-figured wood has small inset shaped everted flanges which return down the outside edges of the plank as a bread board end piece. The edge of the plank is completely flat. The massive legs into which the aprons are set flush in a mortise and tenon pyramid join are mortised and tenoned to the top and end in strong low hoof feet. Metal nails applied to the underside of the plain straight aprons further secured them to the top. There are square section S-braces mortised and tenoned to the legs in a hook and pegged join and pinned to the underside of the plank top.
78 3⁄16 in. (198.6 cm.) wide, 18 1⁄16 in. (45.8 cm.) deep, 35 in. (88.9 cm.) high

Provenance

Gangolf Geis Collection, Hong Kong, til 2003
Sold at Christie’s New York, The Gangolf Geis Collection of Fine Chinese Furniture, 18 September 2003, lot 44
The MQJ Collection, Hong Kong

Literature

Grace Wu Bruce, ‘Two Decades of Ming Furniture Part IV: Zhuo (Tables)’, Forbidden City, Beijing, November 2008, issue 166, p. 135
Grace Wu Bruce, Two Decades of Ming Furniture, Beijing, 2010, p. 49
Grace Wu, The Best of the Best- The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture- vol. 1, Beijing, 2017, pp. 142-147
Grace Wu, Three Decades of Ming Furniture, Beijing, 2024, p. 54

Exhibited

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, The Best of the Best- The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture, 29 September-2 October 2017
Christie’s Hong Kong, A Special Exhibition of the MQJ Collection, 11-15 October 2024

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Ming tables are divided into two main types, those with legs at the four corners, zhuo, and those with recessed legs called an. Tables with tops that end with everted flanges usually have recessed legs and there is a large body of surviving Ming dynasty examples. Everted end tables with legs at the four corners like the present lot are very rare, with only a few extant examples. However, the design is illustrated in the Ming dynasty book Sancai Tuhui (Pictorial Encyclopedia of Heaven, Earth and Man) and is referred to as “yanji” (Fig. 1), so it must have been a main category of the time.

This item is made of a type of Dalbergia wood which is subject to CITES export/import restrictions since 2 January 2017. This item can only be shipped to addresses within Hong Kong or collected from our Hong Kong saleroom and office unless a CITES re-export permit is granted. Please contact the department for further information.

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