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Lot Essay
The present table is an exceptional example of its type, using thick, substantial sections of huanghuali for the top, frame, aprons and legs. The form, with its simple lines, rounded legs, and pairs of stretchers, is also one of the most successful and recognizeable forms found in classical Chinese furniture construction. The depth of the present table confirms its use as a painting table, as smaller, narrower tables would not possess the dimensions required for painting in either a horizontal or vertical format. For a detail of a similar painting table, and how it would have been used in the classic scholarly interior, see a Kangxi-period woodblock print illustrated by Pu An'guo in Ming Qing Su Shi Jia Ju, Suzhou, 1999, p. 65. (Fig.1).
Wang Shixiang also illustrates a similar painting table in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 111, no. B113, where he notes the table has an inscription dating it to the Wanli period. The author continues to discuss this form and type ibid., vol. I, pp. 69-71.
Several other examples of this elegant form have been published. See Robert H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, pp. 164-65, no. 61; Sarah Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, London, 2001, p. 206, no. 13.4; and Grace Wu Bruce, Dreams of Chu Tan Chamber and the Romance with Huanghuali Wood: The Dr. S.Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1991, pp. 66-7, no. 22. See, also, the closely related, though larger, huanghuali painting table, also dated to the 17th century, sold by Christie's, New York, 22-23 March 2012, lot 1746.
Wang Shixiang also illustrates a similar painting table in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 111, no. B113, where he notes the table has an inscription dating it to the Wanli period. The author continues to discuss this form and type ibid., vol. I, pp. 69-71.
Several other examples of this elegant form have been published. See Robert H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, pp. 164-65, no. 61; Sarah Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, London, 2001, p. 206, no. 13.4; and Grace Wu Bruce, Dreams of Chu Tan Chamber and the Romance with Huanghuali Wood: The Dr. S.Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1991, pp. 66-7, no. 22. See, also, the closely related, though larger, huanghuali painting table, also dated to the 17th century, sold by Christie's, New York, 22-23 March 2012, lot 1746.