A massive orange-ground 'qiangjin' and 'tianqi' lacquer table (Qiaotouan), 17th century | 十七世紀 戧金填漆喜樂多福蓮塘紋翹頭案

Collection of Dr Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987).

Christie's New York, 1st December 1995, lot 184.

阿瑟·姆·賽克勒博士（1913至1987年）

紐約佳士得1995年12月1日，編號184

Polychrome lacquer furniture that was either tianqi (brush painted) or qiangjin (gold-engraved and filled-in) technique was popular in the late Ming dynasty, its popularity continuing well into the early Qing dynasty. Although it does not bear a reign mark, the confronting phoenixes at each end, usually associated with the Empress, could suggest that it was made to furnish one of the Imperial palaces. The superb quality of the design indicates that it may have been made by the Yuyong Jian, the Imperial Furniture Workshop, located in the Imperial Palace and responsible for making all the furniture used by the imperial family. Compare an early Qing dynasty qiangjin and tianqi lacquer altar table, from the Qing court collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 144, as well as two other lacquer altar tables preserved in the forbidden city, published in Hu Desheng, A Treasury of Ming and Qing Dynasty Palace Furniture, vol. 1, Beijing, 2008, pp. 252-253, figs. 289-290. The scene on the top depicting a kingfisher in a lotus pond is similar to the decoration found on the top of a 16th century recessed leg painting table, preserved in the Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated and discussed in Michel Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture, New York, 1979, pls. 146 and 154.

In high-ranking Chinese households of the late Ming and Qing dynasties, tables of such impressive proportions with upturned ends demonstrated the status and wealth of their owners. Known among modern cabinet makers as qiaotouan, tables of this type are discussed in Wen Zhenheng’s (1585-1645) influential Zhangwu zhi [Treatise on Superfluous Things], the late 17th century guide to refined taste. Here, Wen recommended that such tables were placed underneath a painting and even suggested that 'one may place such things as fantastic rocks, seasonal flowers, or miniature tray-landscapes; but avoid garish objects such as red lacquerware'.

For further discussions on this type of tables, see Sarah Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkeley, 2001, pp. 226-235 where the author explains that these 'served primarily as a side table, although it could also be used as a domestic altar table', publishing several known wood examples of this type, including an exceptionally large (343.5 by 89 by 50 cm) tieli side table in the Palace Museum, Beijing, dated to the Chongzhen reign (c. 1640), pl. 14.3, as well as a woodblock print showing a side table in situ in a 17th century interior, pl. 14.4.