QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

The single plank top is supported by trestle legs flanked by openwork spandrels of stylised phoenix integral to the apron. The pierced panels depict confronted phoenix, their elaborate tail feathers forming a graceful arch above them. A huanghuali table with comparable phoenix to the spandrels, sold at Christie's New York, The Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Piccus Collection of Fine Classical Chinese Furniture, 18 September 1997, lot 15. The legs are set in shoe feet.

Altar tables of this type are known as qiaotou’an as they are distinguished by their elegant everted table-top ends and openwork panels joining the legs. The late Ming style-maker Wen Zhenheng also termed it bizhuo, or ‘wall table,’ as they were often found placed against a wall in the main hall of a formal setting, to display works of art or to hold offerings.

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