Page 170 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF JOHN AND JULIA CURTIS
~1669
A SMALL HUANGHUALI ROCK TABLE
17TH CENTURY
The single, small, foating panel top is set in a rectangular frame above a tall waist and plain, beaded apron.
The whole is raised on beaded legs of square section terminating in fnely carved hoof feet.
30º in. (76.8 cm.) high, 30æ in. (78.2 cm.) wide, 13æ in. (35 cm.) deep
$70,000-90,000

PROVENANCE
Barling of Mount Street, Ltd., London, 1991.
Of elegant proportions and form, the present table would most likely have been used to support a
scholar’s rock. The use of hefty transverse stretchers and the sturdier leg joint at the corners indicate
that the table was meant to carry an object of great weight. This specifc joint is taller on the waist
and appears on the exterior as a block. Each leg tenons directly into the bottom of the frame, and the
waist and the apron ft directly into the leg. Wang Shixiang illustrates a line drawing of this joint in
Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, vol. I, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 121. no
3.32a. The strength of this joint allows for the table to be supported without stretchers, thereby creating
a lighter and more rarefed form. A larger huanghuali burl-inset table with similar joint is illustrated in
Grace Wu Bruce, The Best of the MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture, vol. 1, Beijing, 2018, pp. 112-15, and is
further supported by ‘giant arm’s’ braces.
十七世紀 黃花梨束腰小長方桌

(detail)
166