Page 12 - 2020 Nov 30 Christie's Hong Kong Scholars Art Of China

~2806
A HUANGHUALI SINGLE-PLANK RECESSED
-LEG TABLE WITH EVERTED FLANGES,
QIAOTOU'AN
LATE MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY
With thick, single-plank top set with everted scroll-form ends,
above beaded aprons and spandrels carved as ruyi-heads, all
supported on thick, beaded, convex legs of rectangular section
framing openwork panels of ruyi-head, the whole set into wide
shoe feet.
34 ¼ in. (87 cm.) high, 77 ¾ in. (197.5 cm.) wide,
18 in. (45.8 cm.) deep
HK$3,000,000-5,000,000 US$390,000-650,000

PROVENANCE
Ho Cheung, Hong Kong, 1990s

晚明 黃花梨如意紋獨板翹頭案

案面獨板黃花梨木製，兩端翹頭。素直牙條起陽線，牙頭雕成卷雲
紋，接堵頭。腿間嵌擋板透雕如意雲紋，下承托泥。

來源
何祥，香港，1990年代
The proportions of the present table, and generous use of large, single
planks and panels of huanghuali, suggest an early date, as the members
generally became smaller due to the shortage of huanghuali wood in
subsequent years.
The everted flanges could be associated with features of ritual furniture
that were to be handled with respect and reverence. When it comes
to domestic use, the ritual aspect seemed to have remained. Tables
such as the present lot would have been used as a side table or an
altar table to occupy the central position at the main hall, as seen in
the woodblock printed illustration of the late-Ming dynasty novel Jin
Ping Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase) Ch. 7, ‘Auntie Xue Proposes a
Match with Tower of Jade’.

10