Lot 343. A rare and unusual 'huanghuali' square table (kangji), 17th century; 11 1/2 by 30 3/4 by 30 3/4 in., 29.3 by 78 by 78 cm. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Lot Sold 158,500 USD. Photo: Sotheby's 2010.

the two panel top set within a square frame, all above a waisted section carved and pierced with archaistic scrolls and simulated bamboo nodes on each corner, continuing down to the shaped apron carved with confronting dragons, flanked by animal-head cabriole legs terminating in claw and ball feet. 

Provenance: Private Collection, South West England, since the 1950s.

Note: Of all of the ornate designs on the present table, it is one small feature -- the simulated bamboo nodes carved onto the corners of the waisted section -- that sets it apart from other kangji. A huanghuali four-poster bed in the Palace Museum is the only other comparable known, illustrated in Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I): The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, no. 1, where double bamboo nodes are featured above the legs.