Qin tables

Although traditional Chinese paintings and/or illustrations often show the qin played on a player's lap (example from 1539 but linked here), normally when played it is placed on a table, using mats (qin jian) to hold the qin in place. There are classical essays that describe how a table can have considerable influence on the sound produced by the qin;³ an interesting item here is the so-called "qin block.⁴

If the table is purposefully built it may be called a "qin table", if the chair (which must be armless) is purposely built it may be called a "qin stool".⁵

The most important characteristics of such a table are:

Sturdiness: a qin player pushes and slides quite firmly on the qin and it is important that the supporting table should not move or creak. A folding table will almost never work.
Appropriate height: a standard height is 26" (66 mm), but the important factor is for the table top to be about 8" (20 cm) higher than the chair height.
Appropriate length: a table such as the one shown at right is probably about 48" (120 mm) long. This allows the sound holes below the qin to be above the table. This is particularly good if the table is resonant.

The long thin shape of a solo qin table has aesthetic appeal, and this shape may also allow one to use side tables of similar shape - as long as they are not too high and do not have obstructions that prevent the player's legs from going under the table.⁶

The table in the illustration at right is also quite typical - wider than some but not as wide as others, in particular not as wide as tables designed to support two qins played by players facing each other, as in a teaching situation. there are further images below.⁷

On a separate page there are details for making a basic table.

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Qin table (琴棹 qinzhuo or 琴案 qin'an)
21570.xxx for either. An internet search for "guqin table" shows a number of commercial options.
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2. Qin table (琴棹 qinzhuo or 琴案 qin'an)
This image was copied from Van Gulik, Lore, p. 5; the original is in the Qing dynasty qin handbook called Qin Xue Rumen (1864).
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3. Influence on the sound
A solid table made of suitable wood can help give the qin a rich, full sound; likewise, or perhaps even more so, a table with drawers can act as a soundboxe. More dramatic, though, are the "qin blocks" (琴磚 qin zhuan), also called "Master Guo's blocks" (郭公磚 Guo gong zhuan; see below) sometimes mentioned in connection with sound amplification and/or an idealized qin studio. Here are references from two classical essays.

Important discussion about Assessing Antiques (1387), by Cao Zhao (曹昭，格古要論 Ge Gu Yao Lun）
琴卓：琴桌須用維摩樣，高二尺八寸，可容三琴，長過琴一尺許。桌面用郭公磚最佳，瑪瑙石、南陽石、永石尤佳。如用木桌，須用堅木，厚一寸許則好，再三加灰漆，以黑光為妙。佐嘗見郭公磚，灰白色，中空，面上有象眼花紋，相傳雲，出河南鄭州泥水中者絕佳。磚長僅五尺，闊一尺有餘，此磚駕琴撫之，有清聲，泠泠可愛。
Qin Table: For a qin table one should use a weimo style (Vimalakirti style?)..... Not yet translated, but note the comment "桌面用郭公磚最佳 For table top, using "Master Guo's block is best." The essay then recommends more materials for the table top, the main idea being that it should be smooth and hard.
Eight Discourses on Living (1591), by Gao Lian (高濂，遵生八箋 Zun Sheng Ba Jian)
The standard name today for the block just mentioned is "qin block" (琴磚 qin zhuan), as in this essay: 「或草堂僻室制為琴室，地下埋一大缸，缸中懸一銅鐘。上以石墁，或用板鋪，上置琴磚或木几彈琴，其聲空朗清亮，自有物外氣度。」
If a hermit living in a hut makes a qin studio, underneath he should bury a large vat; in the vat a bronze bell should be suspended. Above this it should be (covered with) stone-like plaster or wooden planks. On top of this put a "qin block" perhaps on a low wooden table and play the qin. The sound will be bright and clear, and the qin itself will have a level of qi (energy) that is beyond the material world. Translation tentative .

It is my understanding that these have never been commonplace. On the one hand, the very existence of these sound boxes perhaps challenges such ideas as that, with qin music, unheard sounds are an essential part. On the other hand, to those who say the interest in these boxes contradicts the idea that qin was intended only for the self or a few friends, one might point to people who play their music loud for its own sake, not because they want (or care whether) others listen.
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4. Qin Block (琴磚 qin zhuan) and Master Guo's block (郭公磚 Guo gong zhuan)
"Qin zhuan" seems to be the more common term today, but perhaps Guogongchuan is older, at least when used for a qin table.

琴磚 21570.xxx; 24983 磚 says the standard form is 甎 (also zhuan 22078 燒墼 baked brick), quoting 廣韻 Guang Yun: 甎、甎瓦，古史考曰：烏曹作甎 saying the name came from Wu Cao ca. 1700 BCE. Sometimes ornamented, they are here perhaps arbitrarily called "bricks" if solid or "blocks" if hollow.
郭公磚 40338.37 "a type of block", quoting the reference here. (郭公 40338.34 is 鳥名 name of a bird or a type of puppet [傀儡 kuilei]). A "Master Guo block" was apparently a type of hollow brick made from the clay in the area around Zhengzhou, Henan.

It is my understanding that these blocks were common building materials during the Han dynasty and perhaps earlier, particularly on above-ground mausoleums. They often had geometric patterns on them, but they could also be decorated with images, such as with these famous images of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.

These zhuan came in many shapes and sizes, but some were long and narrow. Apparently it was some time during the Ming dynasty that people first got the idea of using them as resonance chambers for qin play. This suggests that the term qinzhaun can not be found in literature prior to the Ming dynasty (further research needed to confirm this).

From what I have heard, these hollow blocks do not amplify sound any better than qin tables with sound boxes attached or built in. Their popularity during the Ming and Qing dynasties perhaps was related to their dating from the Han dynasty. Recently interest in them has again revived, perhaps for the same reason: antiquity rather than sound. Quite a few images of such blocks can be found on the internet, including on commercial sites. These are all long rectangular blocks of stone and/or baked clay (later ceramic?), hollow inside and open at both ends. (If made of ceramic or clay presumably they should be called 琴甎, while similar objects made of wood might have another name altogether.)
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5. Qin table, mat and stool
See also the Japanese table below. The Chinese names are:

Qin table (琴案 qin'an, also called 琴棹 qinzhuo)
Qin stool (or "qin couch": 琴榻 qin ta); it must be armless, as arms might interfere with playing.
Qin pillow (琴枕 qinzhen [reference]) or qin mat (琴薦 qinjian [another reference and in the image below]), on which the qin rests. It is also called also called a qin pad (琴墊 qin dian).

The common name for what the qin rests on is 琴枕 qinzhen (qin pillow); do not confuse this with 琴軫 qinzhen (qin pegs, a term that has now been borrowed to refer to frets as on a guitar).
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6. Sturdiness and height
Folding tables are almost never sturdy enough. Desks often work well when staying in a hotel, or may work when lecturing in a classroom, but if they are large enough then they usually are not very portable. Also, if the body of the table is too high it might make it difficult to put one's legs underneath.
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7. Images of other tables
These are identified individually underneath the images (select any image to enlarge it):

The above tables, from left to right, are as follows:

Standard purpose-made qin table 38"L x 17"D x 27"H (as in this video or this one) (compare 40"L x 12"D x 25"H, which also works well);
Qin table that also serves as a qin box (details under qin cases).
Antique "drinking table"; elegant, but at 37"L x 17"D x 32.5"H the lower sound hole under the qin extends somewhat over the end of the table and playing requires a stool or armless chair about 24" high (as in this image)

The images here, from left to right, are as follows:

A low table being used in the countryside (Van Gulik, Lore, p.150; copied from a 唐詩畫譜 Tang Shi Huapu)
A double table with holes for the qin feet and pegs (from Yuguzhai Qinpu). As in the middle image on the above row, the holes are to the player's right. In this way both the qin's right "legs" and the qin pegs (琴軫 qinzhen) and tassels can extend down through the hole. If two people are playing simultaneously they do not look at each other straight ahead but somewhat to their left (image), the direction one normally looks when playing by oneself.
A qin table in Japan. The full image was copied from Van Gulik, Lore, p. 219; he got it from the 琴學入門圖解 Kingaku nyumon zukai (Kyoto, 1828). Note that the lower "legs" on the qin are actually called "paws" (鴨掌 yazhang, lit. "duck paws") or "peg protectors" (護軫 huzhen). They are often somewhat fragile, so they are not commonly used as legs. The qin is also more stable when the right end of the body just before the pegs rests directly on a "qin mat" (see "qin jian" in this illustration as well as the comment above). When the qin body rests directly on the table top then the "paws" hang down just off the end of the table or, as here, through a hole. Near the left end of the qin in this image its actual qin legs also rest on a qin mat.
Although this illustration shows how a qin normally rests on a table when ready for play, the stool (琴榻 qin ta) should in fact be somewhat further to the right, so that the player is seated approximately opposite the fourth hui (fourth marker from the right).
Note also from the line in the middle that the original illustration apparently extended over two pages: the part of the qin to the right has seven strings, but to the left it seems to have only five.

On a separate page are illustrations showing how to make a basic table.
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