Details
AN INLAID LACQUERED-WOOD FOLDING TABLE
choson period (18th century)
Constructed with a rectangular surface with slightly angled flanges at each end which is supported by four cabriole legs, each carved on the inner and outer faces with scroll and joined by a circular reinforcing bar which causes the legs to fold two by two, also carved with a scalloped apron on the two long sides, the apron and legs covered with black lacquer and inlaid in mother-of-pearl with budding and flowering lotus on undulating stems which are interspersed with florets and small discs; the surface inlaid in mother-of-pearl with a large rectangular panel of figures, birds and plants surrounded by a line-border of small rectangles of mother-of-pearl which is surrounded in turn by a wide border of lotus scroll in four sections, also enclosed at the perimeter with an additional line-border; the panel inlaid with scenes, from right to left, of a figure raising a wine cup who is seated by a large wine vat under a pine tree, of a flowering plum and willow under the sun (or a full moon), and of another figure fishing on the bank of a river, the central scene of a hare steering a sail boat which holds a figure in the bow and a large covered jar midship, to the right of the boat two ducks descend above four swimming ducks and the outlines of two mountains, created by serrated pieces of mother-of-pearl, serve as the backdrop; on the left shore a figure in celestial costume digs bamboo shoots below a willow and another tree, and another figure, or the same figure transferred to a separate scene, kneels next to a grove of bamboo, hands joined in an arc surrounded by tiny flecks of mother-of-pearl resembling glittering stars; the underside of the surface and apron undecorated wood
28¾ x 15½ x 10 3/8in. (72.8 x 39.3 x 26.2cm.)
