Lot 113, A huanghuali pingtouan table, Late Ming dynasty; 78.8 by 205.5 by 53.3 cm, 31 by 80 7/8  by 21 in. Estimate 5,500,000 — 8,000,000 HKD (647,319 - 941,556 EUR). Lot Sold 6,680,000 HKD (754,116 EUR). Photo Sotheby's.

the top of standard mitre, mortise and tenon construction with a single board tongue-and-grooved, floating panel supported by six dovetailed transverse stretchers underneath with exposed tenons on the short sides of the frame top, the edge of the frame moulding downward and inward from about one third way down and again to end in a narrow flat band, the splayed round legs cut to house the plain shaped mitred spandrelled apron and double tennoned into the top, each pair of legs joined on the shorter end with a pair of oval stretchers flattened on the underside.

Provenance: Grace Wu Bruce, Hong Kong. 

Note: This classic design has its origin in ancient Chinese wooden architecture. Completely plain, this simple form with pure lines is what first captured the attention of twentieth century furniture historians. The design is now considered quintessential Ming.

This piece of near perfect proportions, made in choice timber of warm orange-brown tone, with a well-figured single panel top, is an example of the best of classic Ming furniture.

Compare a similar piece in the collection of the Central Academy of Arts & Crafts, Beijing, illustrated in Chen Zengbi,Zhongyang Gongyi Meishu Xueyuan Yuancang: Zhenpin Tulu [Central Academy of Arts and Crafts: Illustrations of collections], vol. 2, Mingshi Jiaju [Ming Furniture], Hong Kong, 1994, p. 46. See also another similar example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in Craig Clunas, Chinese Furniture, Victoria and Albert Museum Far Eastern Series, London, 1988, p. 46.

Sotheby's. Ming Furniture – An Asian Private Collection, Hong Kong, 06 Apr 2016, 02:00 PM