A long huanghuali recessed-leg table (pingtouan), 17th-18th century. Photo courtesy Sotheby's

the top of mitered, mortise-and-tenon frame construction with single board tongue-and-groove floating panel top with hidden tenons in the short rails and six transverse stretchers also hidden tenoned in the long rails, the waisted and  beaded apron continuing to the legs of square section with a central recessed double incense stick molding, joined by a pair of double beaded stretchers and cut to receive the side aprons each carved of outward facing stylized phoenix. Height 30 in., 76.2 cm; Width 83 1/2  in., 212 cm; Depth 25 5/8  in., 65.1 cm. Estimate 250,000 — 350,000 USD

Provenance: Manfred Schoeni, Hong Kong.

Note: Two closely related tables have been sold, one from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Piccus, with a nanmu burl top,  and another from the Gangolf Geis Collection, both at Christie's New York, the first 18th September 1997, lot 15, and the second 18th September 2003, lot 39. A table of similar form and phoenix spandrels but also with phoenix-form stretchers, from the collection of Dr. S. Y. Yip is illustrated in an exhibition catalogue by Grace Wu Bruce, A Choice Selection of Ming Furniture from the Dr. S.Y. Yip Collection, Sotheby's Hong Kong, Catalogue, 2012, p. 16 and 17.

Tables with phoenix decoration occur in the present form and also in those with a single plank everted ends. Earlier versions depict the mythological bird with great verisimilitude while the later group such as the present, made in the second half of the 17th century, are more abstracted. The features are simplified and the surface appears worn or abraded in a manner designed to conjure up images from antiquity; an affect that was much prized by literati of the time.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 17 Sep 2013 - http://www.sothebys.com