17TH-18TH CENTURY

The present flush-sided table combines rigid geometric form with simple and elegant lines. 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. Furniture of this form is likely derived from the earlier method of box-construction. 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.

A table of similar construction but not as deep is in the Lu Ming Shi Collection, dated to the late 16th or early 17th century, and is illustrated by Grace Wu Bruce in Living with Ming - the Lu Ming Shi Collection, p. 110, no. 23. A huanghuali and nanmu lute table of similar construction and with ‘giant’s arm braces’, currently in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is illustrated by R. D. Jacobsen and N. Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, pp. 104-105, no. 32, where the use of a central nanmu panel enhanced the resonance of the qin when played. A huanghuali flush-corner table of larger proportion was sold at Christie’s New York, 17 September 2008, lot 157.