17TH CENTURY

Details

A huanghuali kang table, kangzhuo
17th Century
The three-panelled rectangular top with 'ice-plate' edge above a straight narrow waist, supported on cabriole legs carved on the upper section with cloud collars and terminating in cloud-collared hoof feet, the apron well-carved with pairs of confronted striding chi dragons with bifurcated tails and separated by interlocking tendrils formed by extensions of the apron beading and forming lingzhi heads
32 cm. high x 100.5 cm. long x 63 cm. deep

Special notice

Christie’s charges a premium to the buyer on the Hammer Price of each lot sold at the following rates: 29.75% of the Hammer Price of each lot up to and including €5,000, plus 23.8% of the Hammer Price between €5,001 and €400,000, plus 14.28% of any amount in excess of €400,001. Buyer’s premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.

Lot Essay

Kang tables were typically used atop a platform, kang, or a couch-bed or daybed. For a discussion on kang tables, see S. Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkeley, 2001, pp. 169-171. See, also, Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, vol. I, Hong Kong, 1990, pp. 48-52 for a discussion of different forms of kang tables.
Dragons such as in this table rarely appear as a motif on the aprons of kang tables. Far more common among published examples are those with scrolling vines or undecorated aprons.

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