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Lot Essay
The present flush-sided table combines rigid geometric form with architectural and elegant lines, an effect heightened by the rarer square-section stretchers. The lines are restrained yet fluid, deviating only at the gently flared hoof-form foot. The sophisticated design and superb carpentry are typical of the Suzhou region in the late Ming period. For an early version of a simianping table illustrated in a painting of the Song dynasty, see Special Exhibition of Furniture in Chinese Paintings, The National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1996, pp. 50-1, no. 19.
Prominent square-member huanghuali furniture includes an extremely rare huanghuali ‘official’s hat’ armchair, formerly in the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2025, lot 809 and a massive huanghuali waistless flush-corner painting table, fitted with beaded, square-section humpback stretchers, sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2025, lot 814. See, also, a pair of square-section huanghuali armchairs in the Victoria & Albert Museum illustrated by Craig Clunas in Chinese Furniture, London, 1988, pp. 18-19, pl. 3.
Prominent square-member huanghuali furniture includes an extremely rare huanghuali ‘official’s hat’ armchair, formerly in the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2025, lot 809 and a massive huanghuali waistless flush-corner painting table, fitted with beaded, square-section humpback stretchers, sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2025, lot 814. See, also, a pair of square-section huanghuali armchairs in the Victoria & Albert Museum illustrated by Craig Clunas in Chinese Furniture, London, 1988, pp. 18-19, pl. 3.