A large huanghuali recessed-leg painting table, (jiatousun, xiaohua'an) Late Ming / Early Qing Dynasty, 17th Century

with a very finely grained single-board floating-panel secured within the top frame, accented with a very shallow groove around the outer edge and rounded corners, all supported on two pairs of circular sectioned recessed-legs, each pair secured by a further pair of short straight lateral braces of oval section, the underside of the frame secured by a straight apron accented with cloud-shaped spandrels at the joint to the legs, the scrolls of the spandrels tightly curled and secured with a short strut and accented with beading

Tables of this general size are sometimes called small painting tables (xiaohua'an).  These solidly constructed tables created versatile work surfaces; they can be seen in woodblock prints being used as writing desks, side tables, for the display of objects and as dining and sewing tables. Based on extant examples it would appear that the finer grained planks were reserved for painting tables as the craftmen strove for the pure beauty of the grain and structural form.  The tables that were made for dining tended to be made of more ordinary materials and were simply made with little or no decoration. 

Compare a table of similar proportions with the cloud spandrels and circular section legs from Wang Shixiang's collection, illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, vol. II, Hong Kong, 1990, pl. B114.  Another similar table with square-section legs in the Minneapolis Museum of Art, is illustrated in Robert Jacobsen, Classical Chinese Furniture, Minneapolis, 1999, cat. no. 41.  A third example is illustrated in Robert H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, New York, 1970, p. 153, no. 49.  One final example in the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated in The Chuang Family Bequest of Fine Ming and Qing Furniture in the Shanghai Museum, Hong Kong, 1998, no. 31.