A Journey Through Time
Many scholars believe that traditional tangram puzzles originated in Imperial China during the Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127), when a calligrapher by the name of Huang Bosi invented a set of rectangular tables and a collection of diagrams depicting how the tables could be arranged in a variety of configurations to seat guests at banquets.
Huang Bosi’s set consisted of seven tables made in three different lengths. His only geometric rules were that the three smallest tables were half the length of the two largest tables (the length of which was 4x their width) whilst the lengths of the two medium tables were midway between those of the smallest and largest tables.
Hang Bosi’s banquet tables (Yanjitu tables) led to the creation of another more versatile set of tables during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). This new set of tables was the creation of Ge Shan and was comprised of 13 tables of varying sizes of triangles and trapezoids. Ge Shan described the set as butterfly tables (Diechiji tables) because their angular shapes reminded him of butterfly wings.
Hang Bosi’s banquet tables