Rare Chinese recessed-leg painting table, late Ming Dynasty or Early Qing Dynasty, with single-panel top set within the wide rectangular mitred frame with mortise and tenon top and stretcher construction, with inset bamboo field in top, the frame supported on thick rounded legs joined by pairs of stretchers and rounded shaped supports. This Pingtouan form is referred to in the Classic of Lu Ban as a 'character one' table due to its similarity in profile to the single horizontal stroke of the Chinese character for one. Several examples of this elegant form have been published. See "Splendor of Style, Classical Furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties", National Museum of History, Taipei, 1999, p. 143, for a large huanghuali recessed-leg painting table of similar form, dated to the 16th or 17th century. See, also, G. Ecke, "Chinese Domestic Furniture", Rutland Tokyo, 1962, pl. 46, no. 36, for another example. Compare also several similar huanghuali recessed-leg tables sold at Christie's New York: 21 September 2004, lot 34; 19 September 2007, lot 131; 17 September 2008, lot 160; 30 May 2012 lot 2915 and lot 4072.