Page 62 - Christies Asia Week 2015 Chinese Works of Art
P. 62
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION It is rare to fnd a kang table with cabriole legs and ball feet wrapped in
curled acanthus leaves. Most examples with cabriole legs terminate in
2034 cloud-form or claw feet, such as a huanghuali kang table from the Dr.
A MAGNIFICENT AND VERY RARE HUANGHUALI KANG TABLE, Yip Collection sold at Christie’s New York, 20 September 2002, lot 10. A
KANGZHUO huanghuali kang table with folding legs that exhibit similar treatment of
17TH CENTURY the cabriole legs and feet is illustrated by S. Handler, Austere Luminosity
of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkeley, 2001, p. 171, fg, 11.12, and
The rectangular, paneled top is set into the beaded frame above another example illustrated, p. 172, fg. 11.14, has beaded cabriole legs
a narrow waist and cusped, beaded aprons intricately carved with that terminate in ball feet and stylized leaf motif. For a brief history of the
scrolling lingzhi stems. The whole is raised on elegant cabriole legs evolution of the kang table, see S. Handler, “On a New World Arose the
carved in openwork with a curled acanthus leaf enclosing the ball Kang Table,” Journal of the Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Summer
foot supported on chucks. 1992, pp. 22-46, where the author discusses the present table.
11 Ω in. (29.2 cm.) high, 42 in. (106.7 cm.) wide, 28 in. (71.1 cm.)
deep For a discussion of kang tables, see S. Handler, Austere Luminosity of
Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkeley, 2001, pp. 169-171. See, also, Wang
$500,000-700,000 Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing
Dynasties, vol. I, Hong Kong, 1990, pp. 48-52, for a discussion of different
PROVENANCE: forms of kang tables.
The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York, mid-1980s. 明末清初 黃花梨靈芝紋炕桌
LITERATURE:
R.H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and
Early Ch’ing Dynasties, New York, 1979, p. 147, pls. 39 and 39a.
S. Handler, ‘On a New World Arose the Kang Table,’ Journal of
the Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Museum of Classical Chinese
Furniture, Summer 1992, p. 36, fg. 20.
60
