17TH-18TH CENTURY

Of generous proportions, this exceptional flush-sided painting table combines rigid geometric form with simple and elegant lines. Fitted with a pair of matched, beautifully figured floating panels within a thick rectangular frame, the massive table is raised on square section legs, terminating in elegant hoof feet. The legs are joined by elongated ogee-shaped openwork spandrels and aprons. Furniture of this flush-corner construction is likely derived from the earlier method of box-construction. For an early version of a simianping table illustrated in a painting of the Song dynasty, see Special Exhibition of Furniture in Chinese Paintings, The National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1996, pp. 50-1, no. 19.

The rare openwork stretcher design is most likely inspired by lacquer models. A gilt-decorated, red lacquer kang table, dated to the early Qing dynasty, constructed with a related alternating pattern of ogee-form panels interspersed with rectangular struts along the waist is in the Qing Court collection, illustrated in Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I): The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Vol. 53, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 181, no. 154. The exaggerated hump of the humpback stretchers and shaped struts are commonly seen in early Qing lacquer tables. See, Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I): The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Vol. 53, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 116, no. 99, for a qiangjin and tianqi lacquer example with similarly shaped stretchers and ruyi-form struts. The innovative design suggests the table was made by a master carpenter with an extensive knowledge of Chinese furniture design, various construction techniques, and access to high quality materials.