A large Chinese walnut 'heitaomu' altar table, Qiaotouan, Ming Dynasty, late 17th century, of impressive size, the long plank top terminating in tall everted flanges, 391cm long x 60cm deep x 90cm high Provenance: From a private collection purchased by the current owner form Robert Kuo, Los Angeles, 2011 ($57,000) Although in the West tables of this form are known as altar tables, the Chinese term qiaotouan only refers to the fact that the ends are raised and that according to the Palace Museum, Beijing, tables of this scale would have stood at the centre of a main hall or against the side walls in one of the important rooms in the Imperial Palace, on which decorative objects would have been displayed.明17世纪 核桃木翘头案拍品来源：英国私人收藏，现藏家以57000美金购自洛杉矶古董商Robert Kuo品相报告: walnut and probably from Shanxi province the bottom of the slab foot on the left has been replacedpart of the decorative spandrel on the left side has been replacedThere are new cleats affixed to each end on the underside of the top to hold the boards together. The whole of the surface was originally lacquered red and there are traces of this on most surfacesthere is a lot of separation between the grain with filling The whole surface needs waxing and the colour blending together