The work aims to promote the inheritance and innovation of traditional furniture culture in contemporary Chinese furniture design, and promote the integration and development of traditional and modern furniture. A combination of literature review, grounded theory and statistics were used. Firstly, paintings, books and periodicals related to Ming-style furniture were collected and classified. Secondly, the research method of grounded theory three-level coding was used to extract the modelling features of Ming-style furniture. Finally, statistical analysis methods were used to extract the rules of modelling combination of Ming-style table and case furniture. Six Ming-style furniture modelling elements, including leg, foot, apron, stretcher, waist, and other models, are obtained; and 29 groups of modelling element combination of classic Ming-style table and case furniture are extracted. It is used to illustrate that contemporary Chinese furniture design should follow the rules of Ming-style furniture combination when drawing on the modelling elements of Ming-style furniture and introducing new ones while retaining classic features.