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拍品專文
The recessed-leg table is one of the most prevalent forms of Chinese furniture. This style of table, known in Chinese as pingtouan, is an example of furniture intended for practical use.
The pingtouan form, with its simple lines, rounded legs, and pairs of stretchers, is also among the most successful and recognizable forms found in classical Chinese furniture construction. The basic proportions were adapted to make large painting tables, smaller tables, benches and stools. This form of table is referred to in the Lu Ban Jing as a 'Character One Table' due to its similarity in profile to the single horizontal stroke of the Chinese character for the number one.
The present table is an example of a narrow version of the form. It would have most likely been placed against a wall to function as an altar table or as a display table for ornamental objects and utilizes a long, single-panel top of lustrous huanghuali which would have been quite expensive to acquire even during the 17th century.
For an informative discussion regarding the importance of the Chinese side table and altar table as an indispensable part of the classical Chinese household see Sarah Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkeley, 2001, pp. 224-238. The author explains that Chinese households would utilize these tables as either altars in the home or as side tables for the display of objects and treasured family possessions. Usually placed in the main hall of the household, these tables would naturally be the focal point of the room. Handler notes, "Although the essential function of these tables throughout history has been to display beautiful valuables to family or to gods, the displays changes with the times." Thus, although the individual types of objects may have undergone change over the centuries since the present table was created, this magnificent example of the form may continue to serve part of its initial function to display the precious objects and treasures of the modern family's world.
For a similar, although larger (89 in. wide) huanghuali recessed-leg table see Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago, 1995, p. 114, no. 54, of late 16th-early 17th century dating. See, also, a larger example (89 in. wide) illustrated by Robert D. Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley in Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, pp. 122-123, no. 40, where it is dated to the 17th century. A smaller example (71 in. wide) is illustrated in Gustav Ecke, Chinese Domestic Furniture, Tokyo, 1962, pl. 46, no. 36.
The pingtouan form, with its simple lines, rounded legs, and pairs of stretchers, is also among the most successful and recognizable forms found in classical Chinese furniture construction. The basic proportions were adapted to make large painting tables, smaller tables, benches and stools. This form of table is referred to in the Lu Ban Jing as a 'Character One Table' due to its similarity in profile to the single horizontal stroke of the Chinese character for the number one.
The present table is an example of a narrow version of the form. It would have most likely been placed against a wall to function as an altar table or as a display table for ornamental objects and utilizes a long, single-panel top of lustrous huanghuali which would have been quite expensive to acquire even during the 17th century.
For an informative discussion regarding the importance of the Chinese side table and altar table as an indispensable part of the classical Chinese household see Sarah Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkeley, 2001, pp. 224-238. The author explains that Chinese households would utilize these tables as either altars in the home or as side tables for the display of objects and treasured family possessions. Usually placed in the main hall of the household, these tables would naturally be the focal point of the room. Handler notes, "Although the essential function of these tables throughout history has been to display beautiful valuables to family or to gods, the displays changes with the times." Thus, although the individual types of objects may have undergone change over the centuries since the present table was created, this magnificent example of the form may continue to serve part of its initial function to display the precious objects and treasures of the modern family's world.
For a similar, although larger (89 in. wide) huanghuali recessed-leg table see Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago, 1995, p. 114, no. 54, of late 16th-early 17th century dating. See, also, a larger example (89 in. wide) illustrated by Robert D. Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley in Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, pp. 122-123, no. 40, where it is dated to the 17th century. A smaller example (71 in. wide) is illustrated in Gustav Ecke, Chinese Domestic Furniture, Tokyo, 1962, pl. 46, no. 36.