A FINE AND RARE SQUARE ‚EIGHT IMMORTALS‘ HUANGHUALI TABLE ‚BAXIANZHUO‘

Estimated Value:

20.000 € - 30.000 €

Result:

68.635 € incl. Premium and VAT

Description:

China, Ming/ early Qing dynasty
87 x 94 x 94 cm
Of typical mitred, mortise and tenon frame construction, with a flush-tongue- and-grooved floating panel composed of three boards set intothe inside edge of the frame. The table is supported on four- square corner legs ending in hoof feetand jointed by hidden-tenoned, high hump-backed stretchers that are slightly set back from the edgesof the legs.
Collection of Consul Max Müller (1867-1960) acquired in China around 1905-1908, by descent to his daughter Irmgard Müller Doertenbach (1909-2011)
The late Wang Shixian, one of the foremost authorities on Ming furniture, established that there are three sizes of square ta bles ‚fangzhuo‘, small, medium and large, with the present table falling into the last category. According to Wang, this largest type of square table is rather poetically reffered to by Beijing craftsmen as baxianzhuo or ‚Eight Immortals Table‘, because it can accomodate eight people. Wang notes the ‚Square tables were often placed against walls and under windows or out from the mid-section of a long table‘, The present table is of classic type, the deceptive simplicity of whichwas undoubtledly much appreciatedby scholars. A huanghuali square table of similar proportions and comparable style with the addition of ruyi head strutts between the table and the stretchers is in the collection of Dr. S.Y. Yip. Another very similar table was in the collection of Grace Wu Bruce, inventory no. I9093129. - Very minor traces of age

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