Summer-winter table, Huanghuali wood Late Ming to early Qing (1600–1700)

The top of standard mitre, mortise and tenon frame construction with a two-board, flush, tongue-and-grooved, floating panel supported by three dovetailed transverse stretchers, two with exposed tenons. There are exposed tenons on the short sides of the frame top. The edge of the frame is decorated with a groove in the centre and molds downwards and inwards to end in a narrow flat band. The recessed waist and the curvilinear, beaded-edge apron, exquisitely carved with lingzhi fungus and ducks, are made of one piece of wood and half-lapped onto and mortised and tenoned into the legs. The construction of the legs is unique; the upper section is a short cabriole leg ending in a open-mouth mask of a monster beast, while the lower part, octagonal in shape and with deeply grooved corners, extends to the full length of the leg, fitting into the back of the upper section and then double mortise-and-tenoned to the top. Scroll-shaped spandrel are mortised and tenoned to the underside of the aprons and the cabriole legs. The extraordinary construction of this table allows the long section of the legs to be removable so that it may be used at ground level as well as on the kang.

Hong Kong, 1995 – 1996, Hong Kong Museum of Art, “In Pursuit of Antiquities: Thirty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society”
Denver, Colorado, 1997 – 1999, Denver Art Museum

Hong Kong Museum of Art, In Pursuit of Antiquities: Thirty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 279
Grace Wu Bruce, Chan Chair and Qin Bench: The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture II, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 96 – 97

Similar example:
Wang Shixiang et al., Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, pp. 106 – 107 illustrates a similar dual usage square table but without carved decorations on the aprons

This table serves the dual purpose of placing on the floor when full height and on the kang when the plain legs are removed.
There are extant examples of a small family of tables of this design, mostly rectangular banzhuo side tables. Their distinct features are the combination of a standard kang table in the top section, with legs extending below, usually round, and some examples are capped by vase-shaped feet. Also typical are the spandrels between the aprons and the legs, in various shapes and designs. This piece is more special, with the added feature of removable legs.