Dismantable qiaotouan everted-end table, Huanghuali wood Late Ming (1573–1644)

The removable single plank top of well figured wood has small rounded, shaped everted flanges inset into it at the ends. The flanges continue down the sides and are part of the mitred end board mortised and tenoned to the plank top. The edge of the top is flat and moulds inward and downward from about one third way down to end in a narrow flat band. The long beaded-edged aprons, with exquisitely shaped spandrels, carved with phoenix motif and the short end boards form a frame where the top rests. These aprons, together with the end boards and the four transverse stretchers, are also removable. Four small tenons hold the top in position. The rectangular legs with wide beaded edges and a wide band in the centre are cut to house the long aprons and below, are tenoned into shoe-type feet decorated with a series of mouldings. An openwork panel carved with lingzhi fungus with wide, banded edges are inset into the space between the legs and the shoe-type feet. The table can be dismantled into eleven parts.

Hong Kong, 1995 – 1996, Hong Kong Museum of Art, “In Pursuit of Antiquities: Thirty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society”
London, 1999, Institute of Contemporary Art, “Grace Wu Bruce presents Ming Furniture from the Collection of Dr. S. Y. Yip”
Hong Kong, 2012, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, “Grace Wu Bruce presents a choice selection of Ming Furniture from the Dr. S. Y. Yip collections”

Hong Kong Museum of Art, In Pursuit of Antiquities: Thirty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 270
Grace Wu Bruce, Chan Chair and Qin Bench: The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture II, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 94 – 95
Grace Wu Bruce, Grace Wu Bruce presents a choice selection of Ming Furniture from the Dr. S. Y. Yip collections, Hong Kong, 2012, pp. 42 – 43

Similar examples:
Robert D. Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, p. 127 for a very similar example
National Museum of China (Ed.), Jianyue ž Huamei: Mingqing Jiaju Jingcui (Simplicity · Opulence: Masterpieces of Ming & Qing Dynasty Furniture), Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Chubanshe, Beijing, 2007, pp. 70 – 71 for another similar piece

This qiaotouan table is easily dismantable into its component parts. Very similar to one in the National Museum of China, Beijing, and another in the Minneapolis Institute of Art. This type of pieces when dismantled, facilitates easy carriage and transportation from workshops to the homes of patrons for assembly. It is similar to canopy beds where the superstructure above the bed seat is completely dismantable. This type of construction is suitable for large, heavy pieces. There are few surviving examples.