18TH CENTURY

The present table is based on a form which has detachable legs to allow it to be used both as a kang table and a standard-height table. Tables of this type were made to be easily disassembled to facilitate transport. However, there are several known examples with fixed legs, in which the legs have been carved to imitate their detachable counterparts. This fascination with artifice was in fashion during the eighteenth century and can be seen in exquisite examples found in the decorative arts.

A square huanghuali, fixed-leg table carved with vase-form feet and dating to the late Ming dynasty is illustrated by N. Berliner et al., Beyond the Screen: Chinese Furniture from the 16th and 17th Centuries, Boston, 1996, no. 22, and another square example is illustrated by C. Clunas, Chinese Furniture, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1988, p. 59, pl. 47. A rectangular huanghuali fixed-leg table was sold in The Lai Family Collection of Fine Chinese Furniture and Works of Art; Christie’s New York, 17 September 2015, lot 923.