Chinese tables are perhaps China's most important contribution to the Asian furniture tradition. China is the only Asian country that left floor-level mat living, and adopted raised living centuries ago, and China therefore stands alone as the only country in Asia which has a fully developed range of furniture in its vocabulary, providing a rich assortment of forms for collectors and enthusiasts.

Of particular interest in the collection for this exhibition are an elegant cypress plank sided table with scroll feet, a long table with reticulated scrollwork aprons, a scholar's table with wrapped-around stretchers, simulating bamboo furniture, a flush-sided painting table with giant-arm-braces, and a wine table with attached humpback stretches and ruyi-scroll spandrels. Many of the exhibited pieces display elegance and powerful forms. These tables work almost as modern sculpture, but with a function. They include an extraordinary collection of large tables which are displayed in Altfield Gallery Annex showroom in the warehouse.