Page 160 - SOTHEBYS MARCH 18 AND 19 2025

Fig 1. After Xie Huan, A Literary Gathering in the Apricot Garden, ink and color on silk, handscroll
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
圖1 傳謝環 杏園雅集圖 設色絹本 手卷 © 大都會藝術博物館，紐約

Exceptional in scale and constructed from timber of the What distinguishes the present table from other extant
highest quality, this large table is a masterful example of examples of tiaozhuo, however, is the exceptionally
the way Ming dynasty craftsmen could elevate something generous scale. While the depth of the table, at nearly
as humble as a side table through precisely delineated 60 cm, falls slightly below the threshold for what
proportions, intricate joinery, and restricted ornamentation. is considered a painting table (Wang Shixiang, in
Connoisseurship of Classical Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong,
Often referred to as tiaozhuo (side tables), tables of this 1989, p. 68, states that painting tables are no smaller
form were perhaps the most versatile of the classical than 76 cm in depth), it is considerably larger than typical
Chinese furniture forms: placed next to the bed as a type of tiaozhuo. Its large size and brilliant, luminous timber meant
nightstand or against a window to display rocks or flowers, it would have been a suitable surface for reading or writing
used in the studio for reading and writing or the ladies’ or displaying the finest antiques and treasures.
quarters for sewing, or moved into the garden for antique-
viewing sessions. Indeed, paintings and woodblocks from the Compare the present table to a much smaller example
Song dynasty onwards depict comparable tables in garden formerly in the collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, published
settings supporting a variety of art forms. See, for instance, by the same in Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples
Xie Huan’s A Literary Gathering in the Apricot Garden (Fig. 1), of the Ming and Early Ch’ing Dynasties, New York, 1970,
dated to 1437, currently in the collection of the Metropolitan p. 167, cat. no. 66; a waistless tiaozhuo, of similar length
Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 1989.141.3), in but considerably narrower, in the collection of the Palace
which two scholars, Yang Rong (1371–1440) and Yang Museum, Beijing, illustrated by Hu Desheng in A Treasury
Shiqi (1365–1444), are depicted seated on yokeback chairs of Ming and Qing Dynasty Palace Furniture, vol. I, Beijing,
amidst the extravagant rockwork of a lavish garden. At Yang 2007, p. 178, fig. 183; and another slightly longer but
Rong’s right, a tiaozhuo of similar dimensions to the present narrower waisted corner leg tiaozhuo sold in these rooms,
example is set with a small table screen, censer, and writing 17th March 2021, lot 206.
paraphernalia. A group of nearby attendants, ready to return
the assemblage to the studio at the end of the gathering,
speak to the maneuverability of the furniture ensemble.

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