18TH-19TH CENTURY

This unusual circular table was probably used to support a large vessel or drum. A similar circular stand supported on cabriole legs and carved with lion masks and scrolling tendrils is illustrated by R.H. Ellsworth in Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, pp. 124-125, no. 42. The painting Night Revels of Han Xizai by Tang Yin, dated to the Ming dynasty, depicts Han Xizai beating on a large drum supported by a tall circular table, similar to the present table, illustrated by L. Lin, Catalogue to the Special Exhibition of Furniture in Paintings, The National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1996, p. 64, no. 26. (Fig. 1).