Lot Essay
This table stand is very unusual. It can be compared to another one illustrated in Fang Jing Pei, Treasures of the Chinese Scholar, New York/Tokyo 1997, p.70, pl.55. The shape and size are similar, but the central motif represents two dragons instead of one in the current example. The tray and cover belonging to the Royal Ontario Museum and illustrated in Homage to Heaven, Homage to Earth, Chinese Treasures of the Royal Ontario Museum, University of Toronto Press, Toronto/Buffalo/London, 1992, p.211, pl.119 and dated 16th/17th century, have the same central dragon pattern