17TH CENTURY

Of elegant proportions and form, the present table would most likely have been used to support an object of great weight. The block joint at the corner, which secures the waist to the leg, is an extension of the leg. Further, the use of curved ‘giant’s arm’s’ braces indicate that the table was used for displaying a scholar’s rock, large archaic bronze vessel, or a censer. Wang Shixiang illustrates a line drawing of this joint in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, vol. I, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 121. no 3.32a. The strength of this joint allows for the table to be supported without stretchers, thereby creating a lighter and more rarefied form. A larger huanghuali burl-inset table with similar joint and 'giant's arm's' braces is illustrated in Grace Wu Bruce, The Best of the MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture, vol. 1, Beijing, 2018, pp. 112-15. A smaller huanghuali table with similar joint, but constructed without ‘giant arm’s’ braces was sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1669.