Page 74 - Christies THE LAI FAMILY COLLECTION OF FINE CHINESE FURNITURE AND WORKS OF ART
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923 The present side table is based on a form which
A HUANGHUALI DEMOUNTABLE-STYLE has detachable legs, for use as a demountable
FIXED-CORNER-LEG SIDE TABLE, BANZHUO table. Tables of this type were made to be easily
18TH CENTURY disassembled to facilitate transport. However,
there are several known examples with fxed
The single-panel top is set within a wide, legs, in which the legs have been carved to
rectangular frame with beaded, ‘ice-plate’ imitate their detachable counterparts. This
edge above a plain waist. The shaped aprons fascination with artifce was in fashion during the
with beaded edge are carved at the corners eighteenth century and can be seen in exquisite
with scroll-form ‘feet’ in imitation of a examples found in the decorative arts.
demountable kang table. The thick legs are of
rounded section and are joined by humpback See an almost identical example in tielimu
stretchers. and huamu illustrated by K.Lo in Classical and
32Ω in. (82.5 cm.) high, 37√ in. (96.2 cm.) Vernacular Chinese Furniture in the Living
wide, 18√ in. (47.9 cm.) deep Environment, Hong Kong, 1998, pp.142-3.
Compare, also a square huanghuali, fxed-leg
$60,000-80,000 example, dating to the late Ming dynasty,
currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts,
PROVENANCE: Boston, and illustrated by N. Berliner et al.,
Beyond the Screen: Chinese Furniture from the
Property from the Lai Family Collection. 16th and 17th Centuries, Boston, 1996, no. 22,
and another square example illustrated by C.
Clunas, Chinese Furniture, Victoria and Albert
Museum, 1988, p. 59, pl. 47.
清十八世紀 黃花梨半桌
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