A very rare 'huanghuali' rectangular corner-leg table (Banzhuo), Ming dynasty, 16th / 17th century

Peter Lai Antiques, Hong Kong, 1992.

The term banzhuo, literally ‘half-table,’ refers to a class of Chinese hardwood side tables that are approximately half the size of the larger square ‘eight immortals’ banquet table (baxianzhuo). These tables were versatile in use – serving as side tables in studios or bedrooms, or paired with larger tables to extend dining surfaces – and reflect the scholarly yet relaxed living of the Ming elite. 

The present banzhuo belongs to a rare and enchanting group of tables modeled after demountable tables designed to convert into low kang tables. Termed aizhuo zhantui shi or ‘low table with extended legs’ by notable scholar Wang Shixiang, examples of the demountable type include a banzhuo in the Haven Collection included in Classical Chinese Huanghuali Furniture from the Haven Collection, University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2016, cat. no. 43; alongside a square table of related design, cat. no. 42. Intriguingly, the design of the present table does not actually make it demountable; rather, the leg is carved in imitation of the aizhuo zhantui shi, highlighting the referential nature of Ming furniture aesthetics and the playfulness of its craftsmen.

Many other surviving tables from this rare group feature abundant carved decorations on their aprons and stretchers which, though often of exceptional sculptural quality, set them apart from the classical late Ming canon. The present table, however, while sharing the shapely rococoesque dragon spandrels and playful kang design of its contemporaries, opts for a more classical silhouette, more familiar to Ming collectors, with understated shaped aprons centered with a ruyi motif, sufficient in lending the table an air of subtle luxury. 

Tables of this design are exceptionally rare. Perhaps the most comparable example was included by Grace Wu Bruce in her exhibition, On the Kang and between the Walls - the Ming Furniture Quietly Installed, Hong Kong, 1998, cat. no. 8; both that table and the present example have nearly identical shaped aprons with ruyi motif above dragon spandrels and feet that terminate in vases. Compare, also, a related and similarly understated banzhuo from the collection of Ronald Longsdorf, with ‘giant’s arm braces’ in place of dragon spandrels, sold at Christie’s New York, 15th September 2011, lot 1336; a more conventionally elaborate example from the Geis Collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 9th October 2020, lot 99 (Fig. 1); another in The Best of the Best. The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture, vol. 1, Beijing, 2017, pp 106-111; and a square table with chilong relief work to the aprons preserved in the Qing Court Collection in Hu Desheng, The Palace Museum Collection. A Treasury of Ming & Qing Dynasty Palace Furniture, vol. I, Beijing, 2007, pl. 166.