17TH CENTURY

The present table is distinguished by the massive length and thickness of the solid huanghuali plank top, measuring over 2 inches (5.08 cm.) thick. It is evident that the furniture maker not only had the economic resources for such an extravagant use of material, but also had access to the highest quality material. The plank possesses an attractive grain that is vigorous and active and displays a depth of color and life that can sometimes be lacking in massive furniture, which can prize size over material. It is unusual, to find an example of large-scale furniture that prizes both size and material equally. To imagine the girth and age of the tree from which this plank was hewn is staggering.

Of the published examples of massive huanghuali trestle-leg tables, there are few examples larger than the present table. Two huanghuali trestle-leg tables both in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (53), Hong Kong, 2002, p. 146, pl. 126 and p. 160, pl. 137, are longer than the present table, measuring 402 cm. and 359 cm. in length, respectively. A rare massive tielimu table, measuring 343.5 cm. in length, also in the Palace Museum, Beijing, carved with similar stylized elephants on the spandrels is illustrated in ibid. p. 166-67, pl. 141, and bears a date corresponding to 1640.

This form is known as a qiaotou'an, or 'everted end recessed-leg table,' although the late Ming style-maker Wen Zhenheng termed it bizhuo, or 'wall table,' as it was commonly used against a wall to display works of art or to hold offerings. Tables of the present type tend to feature long, single-plank tops and thick members. Such tables also feature aprons with integral spandrels which are joined by dovetail-housing to the trestle legs, providing added structural support. There appear to be two types of recessed trestle-leg tables. The first type exhibits straight legs, which are set into shoe feet. The second variant, which includes the current table, has everted feet. Notable huanghuali trestle-leg tables can be seen in several public collections, including two examples smaller than the present table in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, measuring 285.8 cm. and 226.5 cm. in length, respectively.