Exceptional in scale and constructed from timber of the highest quality, this large table is a masterful example of the way Ming dynasty craft.mes n could elevate something as humble as a side table through precisely delineated proportions, intricate joinery, and restricted ornamentation.

Often referred to as tiaozhuo (side tables), tables of this form were perhaps the most versatile of the classical Chinese furniture forms: placed next to the bed as a type of nightstand or against a window to display rocks or flowers, used in the studio for reading and writing or the ladies’ quarters for sewing, or moved into the garden for antique-viewing sessions. Indeed, paintings and woodblocks from the Song dynasty onwards depict comparable tables in garden settings supporting a variety of art forms. See, for instance, Xie Huan’s A Literary Gathering in the Apricot Garden (Fig. 1), dated to 1437, currently in the collects ion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 1989.141.3), in which two scholars, Yang Rong (1371–1440) and Yang Shiqi (1365–1444), are depicted seated on yokeback chairs amidst the extravagant rockwork of a lavish garden. At Yang Rong’s right, a tiaozhuo of similar dimensions to the present example is set with a small table screen, censer, and writing 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.

What distinguishes the present table from other extant examples of tiaozhuo, however, is the exceptionally generous scale. While the depth of the table, at nearly 60 cm, falls slightly below the threshold for what is considered a painting table (Wang Shixiang, in Connoisseurship of Classical Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 68, states that painting tables are no smaller than 76 cm in depth), it is considerably larger than typical tiaozhuo. Its large size and brilliant, luminous timber meant it would have been a suitable surface for reading or writing or displaying the finest antiques and treasures.

Compare the present table to a much smaller example formerly in the collects ion of Robert H. Ellsworth, published by the same in Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ch’ing Dynasties, New York, 1970, p. 167, cat. no. 66; a waistless tiaozhuo, of similar length but considerably narrower, in the collects ion of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated by Hu Desheng in A Treasury of Ming and Qing Dynasty Palace Furniture, vol. I, Beijing, 2007, p. 178, fig. 183; and another slightly longer but narrower waisted corner leg tiaozhuo sold in these rooms, 17th March 2021, lot 206.