19TH CENTURY

The impressive size of this table indicates that it would have been placed in a prominent position, most probably against the wall of a grand hall or in the centre of an altar. For example, see the positioning of a related recessed trestle-leg table in the Palace of Gathering Excellence, which is decorated with mother-of-pearl on a lacquer ground, and is illustrated in Ming Qing Gong Ting Jia Ju Da Guan, Part II, Beijing, 2006, p. 698, pl. 800. A Ming Dynasty huali table carved very similarly to the current lot with archaistic phoenix is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, p. 150, pl. 130. See also a comparable altar table sold Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2004.