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拍品專文
No other Chinese furniture design better showcases the tenets of pure form and balanced proportions than this magnificently austere flush-corner table. In these eleven pieces of huanghuali, this table deftly combines the brilliant technical genius of Chinese joinery with a sleek design, focused on nuanced line, elegant proportions, and understated volume.
The long, solid-plank top is supported by a sophisticated network of interlocking joints that avoids the use of stretchers, braces, and/or spandrels to buttress and support the legs. The careful engineering of these simple members and unseen joints create a lightness that belies the impressive size of the table. The proportions of the aprons seamlessly continue to the legs and provide a spartan framing above which the hefty solid plank top appears to almost float. The overall effect is seamless, noble, and ethereal.
It is very rare to find a table of this waistless, flush-corner construction and without any bracing. The ingenious joints that allowed for this brilliant design were fragile, and without additional reinforcement were subject to failing, thus very few examples of this specific design have survived to the present day. An example shown in a Ming-dynasty woodblock illustration Illustrated Anecdotes about the Very Best Scholars (Zhuangyuan Tukao) suggests the frequent use of this form in everyday life.
The most similar table in form, construction, proportions and dating is illustrated by Nicholas Grindley et al., Pure Form: Classical Chinese Furniture: Vok Collection, Padua, 2004, pl. 26. A flush-sided corner-leg table with ‘giant’s arm’ braces and of smaller proportion was in the Gangolf Geis Collection, and most recently sold at Eternal Ming – Treasures from the MQJ Collection; Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 November 2024, lot 1108. (Fig. 1)
The long, solid-plank top is supported by a sophisticated network of interlocking joints that avoids the use of stretchers, braces, and/or spandrels to buttress and support the legs. The careful engineering of these simple members and unseen joints create a lightness that belies the impressive size of the table. The proportions of the aprons seamlessly continue to the legs and provide a spartan framing above which the hefty solid plank top appears to almost float. The overall effect is seamless, noble, and ethereal.
It is very rare to find a table of this waistless, flush-corner construction and without any bracing. The ingenious joints that allowed for this brilliant design were fragile, and without additional reinforcement were subject to failing, thus very few examples of this specific design have survived to the present day. An example shown in a Ming-dynasty woodblock illustration Illustrated Anecdotes about the Very Best Scholars (Zhuangyuan Tukao) suggests the frequent use of this form in everyday life.
The most similar table in form, construction, proportions and dating is illustrated by Nicholas Grindley et al., Pure Form: Classical Chinese Furniture: Vok Collection, Padua, 2004, pl. 26. A flush-sided corner-leg table with ‘giant’s arm’ braces and of smaller proportion was in the Gangolf Geis Collection, and most recently sold at Eternal Ming – Treasures from the MQJ Collection; Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 November 2024, lot 1108. (Fig. 1)