A very rare pair of huanghuali square tables, Late Ming dynasty | 明末 黃花梨裹腿做霸王棖八仙方桌一對

Chan Shing Kee, Hong Kong, 21st March 1998.

陳勝記，香港，1998年3月21日

Although square tables were often made and used in sets, it is extremely rare to find a pair of tables of matching colour and design that has survived to this day. This pair of tables is even more special as it imitates the design of bamboo or cane furniture. Square tables are versatile pieces of furniture in China. When used as a dining table, a large square table can seat eight persons, two on each side. As such, it is often called the 'eight immortals' table. Alternatively, it can be placed in front of a long altar table, with a chair on each side to receive important guests for viewing artworks. The Ming scholar Wen Zhengheng (1585-1645), in his classic Zhangwu zhi [Notes on my belongings], describes an exceptionally large square table that can seat more than ten people for admiring calligraphy and painting. As illustrated in the album Taiping leshi ce (Joyous matters in an era of peace) by the Ming artist Dai Jin (1388-1462), a similar pair of square tables could be placed side by side, covered with textiles, to form a large rectangular space for two scholars enjoying food and wine as well as the paintings and calligraphies displayed alongside.

A similar bamboo-style table is illustrated in Grace Wu, The Best of the Best: the MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture, vol. 1, Beijing, 2017, p. 92; see also a rectangular example in bamboo-style design from the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Hu Desheng, tr. Curtis Evans, A Treasury of Ming and Qing Dynasty Palace Furniture, vol. 1, Beijing, 2007, pl. 181; Another example of a square table is illustrated in Sarah Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkeley, 2001, pl. 1210; another example was sold at Christie's New York, 22nd March 2019, lot 1669.

此對方桌用料厚重，做工講究。劈料裹腿做，瓜棱腿足，線條流暢圓潤，優雅俊美，成對者罕。劈料裹腿系仿竹籐家具之藝術效果而作的獨特裝飾方法，應受宋、明竹籐家具啟發而作，趣意盎然。

伍嘉恩，《木趣居》，2017年，北京，頁94著錄了一張黃花梨裹腿做高羅鍋棖八仙方桌，與此對類似。北京故宮博物院藏一類似長方例，錄於胡德生及 Curtis Evans，《A Treasury of Ming and Qing Dynasty Palace Furniture》， 卷一，北京，2007年，圖版181。另一例方桌見 Sarah Handler，《Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture》，柏克萊，2001年，圖版1210。葉承耀醫生攻玉山房藏一件裹腿做大書桌，售於香港蘇富比2015年10月7日，編號106。