Connection profile
The panel with small everted flanges is mortised and tenoned to the frame, with the core coming from a whole timber. The cross section of the legs is rectangular, square inside and arc outside. This design is called “two-incense-stick beading”, a kind of decoration on wooden components of ancient building, namely two straight parallel raised lines. Beneath the side panels are the continuous floor stretchers, and between the legs are carved well-organized double dragons and lucid ganoderma patterns. The apron sides are of Yang lines, and the apron head is in distorted phoenix designs; part of the carvings are echoing the carved panel between legs, of which the ornamental patterns are fairly vivid though stereotyped. This desk is well-structured and exquisitely made with high quality material, all of which make it a precious piece of furniture from Ming Dynasty.
