明末 黃花梨束腰羅鍋棖馬蹄足六仙桌 |

嘉木堂

Square tables of this form in varying sizes, are known as eight, six or four immortals table. In the Ming-dynasty novel Jin Ping Mei [The plum in a golden vase], such immortal tables are depicted as square dining tables that could sit six, four or two people. As these tables were used frequently, they are generally robustly constructed. The high humpback stretchers on the present table not only provide extra structural support to the table, but also created ample leg room for the sitters. 

A closely related table, of near identical construction but slightly larger in size, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2012, lot 4079. Compare also another example from the collects ion of Wang Shixiang, decorated with corner spandrels, illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1989, no. B49. Another square table adorned with curved braces at the corners, is illustrated in Grace Wu Bruce, Ming Furniture, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 11.