Page 134 - Nov 29 2017 HK Important Chinese Ceramics

PROPERTY FROM THE RAYMOND HUNG COLLECTION
~ 2952
AN IMPOSING HUANGHUALI PLANK TOP Surviving examples of plank-top pedestal tables are quite rare, and
PEDESTAL TABLE compared to other types of tables, relatively few extant examples are
QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY known. The method of demountable construction is most often seen
on these early examples with thick and heavy plank tops, as it made
The massive single-plank top is supported by heavy the transportation of such tables much easier. In addition, plank-top
pedestals, each with a flush two panel top set into a square pedestal tables appear to be quite rare, owing to the fact that their
frame with concave moulding at each corner. Each outside easily dissembled members can become separated over the years, the
planks in particular often sacrificed for repairs.
face of the square legs and base stretchers is carved with a
deep concave moulding, with an additional, smaller thumb- Compare the pedestals of the present table with a separated pair, one
groove running along the inside edge, and the rectangular of which is illustrated by Gustave Ecke in Chinese Domestic Furniture,
Rutland, VT, 1962, pl. 92, no. 71, and the other, which is now at the
aprons and spandrels have a raised rectangular bead. The Nelson-Atkins Museum, illustrated by Roger Ward and Patricia Fidler
pedestals are raised on short bracket feet. in The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, New
36 Ω in. (92.7 cm.) high, 93 Ω in. (237.5 cm.) wide, York, 1993, p. 345; the Ecke/Nelson-Atkins pair share the same thick,
16 æ in. (42.5 cm.) deep square-sectioned members but lack the elegant beading and moulding
found on the current examples. See, also, a slightly smaller example
HK$5,000,000-7,000,000 US$650,000-900,000 published by Wang Shixiang in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture,
vol. II, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 117, no. B124 (which the author notes was
once approximately 250 cm. wide but was reduced), and note, also, the
清十八世紀 黃花梨獨板架几案 massive example from the collection of Jonathan and Jessika Auerbach
sold at Christie’s New York, 21-22 March 2013, lot 1323.
EXHIBITED
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Essence of Style: Chinese
Furniture of the Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, 17 January
- 6 September 1998
LITERATURE
R. Hatfield Ellsworth, N. Grindley and Anita Christy, Chinese
Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond
Hung Collection, vol. 1, New York, 1996, pp. 178-179, no. 68
R. Hatfield Ellsworth, Essence of Style: Chinese Furniture of the
Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Asian Art Museum of
San Francisco, 1998, pp. 80-81, pl. 25

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