Qiaotouan table with everted ends, Zitan wood Kangxi, 17th century

The top of a single board floating panel tongue-and-grooved to the frame with shaped everted flanges, made of the same piece of wood as the small frame members at the ends. The edge of the frame moulds gently downward. The rounded legs are cut to house the exaggerated cloud shaped aprons-spandrels and are double lock tenoned into the top. Between the legs at each end are two round stretchers, with a double ring medallion in between.

Hong Kong, Government House
Macau, 2003, The Macao Museum of Art, “The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture”
Hong Kong, 2007, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, “Feast by a wine table reclining on a couch: The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture III”

Grace Wu Bruce, Zitan Furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties, Hong Kong Exhibition, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 20 – 21
The Macao Museum of Art, The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, Macau, 2003, pp. 16 – 17
Grace Wu Bruce, Feast by a wine table reclining on a couch: The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture III, Hong Kong, 2007, pp. 138 – 139

The apron in the form of separate spandrels is an early design found in Song and early Ming furniture. The present piece with this feature is probably a nostalgic piece fashioned in the 17th century after the ancient.