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Lot Essay
It is very rare to find a single-top qiaotou’an of this size. The thickness of the present table top (5.8 cm.) is evidence that the furniture maker had the economic resources and access to precious materials of the highest quality. Tables of the present type tend to feature long, single-plank tops, thick members and aprons with integral spandrels which are joined by dovetail-housing to the trestle legs, providing added structural support. Altar tables of this type are known as qiaotou’an as they are distinguished by their elegant everted table-top ends and openwork panels joining the legs. The late Ming style-maker Wen Zhenheng also termed it bizhuo, or ‘wall table,’ as they were often found placed against a wall in the main hall of a formal setting, to display works of art or to hold offerings, as can be seen in an illustration of the popular Ming dynasty novel Jin Ping Mei (The Golden Lotus) (fig. 1).
There appears to be two types of recessed trestle-leg tables. The first type has everted feet and the second type, such as the current table, has straight legs set into shoe feet. Notable huanghuali trestle-leg tables can be seen in several public collections, including a slightly smaller example (H85.3 cm. x W226.5 cm. x D42.5 cm.) in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, illustrated by Robert D. Jacobson and Nicholas Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, p. 127, no. 42 (fig. 2).
A huanghuali painting table with openwork kui-dragon panels set into shoe feet similar in style to the present table (H81.5 cm. x W244 cm. x D46 cm.), is in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I.), Hong Kong, 2002, p. 165 (fig. 3).
A massive single-plank top huanghuali recessed trestle-leg qiaotou’an of similar size, previously from the Estate of Fredric Mueller, was sold at Christie’s New York, 27 November 1991, lot 235 and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2004. Compare the present table also to a single-plank top qiaotou’an with carved chilong panels (H95.9 cm. x W309.9 cm. x D47.6 cm.) sold at Christie’s New York, 24-25 March 2022, lot 1016 (fig. 4).
There appears to be two types of recessed trestle-leg tables. The first type has everted feet and the second type, such as the current table, has straight legs set into shoe feet. Notable huanghuali trestle-leg tables can be seen in several public collections, including a slightly smaller example (H85.3 cm. x W226.5 cm. x D42.5 cm.) in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, illustrated by Robert D. Jacobson and Nicholas Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, p. 127, no. 42 (fig. 2).
A huanghuali painting table with openwork kui-dragon panels set into shoe feet similar in style to the present table (H81.5 cm. x W244 cm. x D46 cm.), is in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I.), Hong Kong, 2002, p. 165 (fig. 3).
A massive single-plank top huanghuali recessed trestle-leg qiaotou’an of similar size, previously from the Estate of Fredric Mueller, was sold at Christie’s New York, 27 November 1991, lot 235 and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2004. Compare the present table also to a single-plank top qiaotou’an with carved chilong panels (H95.9 cm. x W309.9 cm. x D47.6 cm.) sold at Christie’s New York, 24-25 March 2022, lot 1016 (fig. 4).