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Lot Essay
Surviving examples of plank-top pedestal tables appear to be quite rare. This is perhaps due to the fact that the individual elements are easily demountable, and often do not survive together. However, it is this fact that makes the form so versatile, as it is easily moved and configured to fit a variety of spaces. The present pedestal table features a massive, thick single-plank top, suggesting an early date, as members became thinner and huanghuali was used more sparingly as the material became harder to procure.
For a line drawing of a very similar pedestal table refer to Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1990, vol. II, p. 107, B105. According to Wang, the shelf panels on such tables could be used for display, although in large halls, the shelves of this type of table were always left empty.
A related huanghuali pedestal table, dated to the 17th century, is illustrated by R. H. Ellsworth in Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, pp. 180-1, no. 69. See, also, the plank-top table illustrated by Grace Wu Bruce in The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture II, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 92-3, no. 17, where it is dated to the 16th/17th century.
For a line drawing of a very similar pedestal table refer to Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1990, vol. II, p. 107, B105. According to Wang, the shelf panels on such tables could be used for display, although in large halls, the shelves of this type of table were always left empty.
A related huanghuali pedestal table, dated to the 17th century, is illustrated by R. H. Ellsworth in Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, pp. 180-1, no. 69. See, also, the plank-top table illustrated by Grace Wu Bruce in The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture II, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 92-3, no. 17, where it is dated to the 16th/17th century.