Table of Figures

The following works by defining a new \fixedlabel labelling scheme. \fixedlabel{<lab>}{<tag>} fixes the label <tag> associated with <lab> (similar to the \tag labelling mechanism of amsmath).

% http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/52189/including-table-of-figures
\documentclass{article}
\makeatletter
\def\fixedlabel#1#2{%
  \@bsphack%
  \protected@write\@auxout{}%
         {\string\newlabel{#1}{{#2}{\thepage}}}%
  \@esphack}
\makeatother
\begin{document}

\begin{table}[ht]
  \centering
  \begin{tabular}{c@{\quad}cc}
    & a & b \\
    1 & \rule[-25pt]{100pt}{50pt}\fixedlabel{block1a}{1a} 
      & \rule[-25pt]{100pt}{50pt}\fixedlabel{block1b}{1b} \\ \\
    2 & \rule[-25pt]{100pt}{50pt}\fixedlabel{block2a}{2a} 
      & \rule[-25pt]{100pt}{50pt}\fixedlabel{block2b}{2b} \\ \\
    3 & \rule[-25pt]{100pt}{50pt}\fixedlabel{block3a}{3a} 
      & \rule[-25pt]{100pt}{50pt}\fixedlabel{block3b}{3b}
  \end{tabular}
  \caption{This is a caption.}\label{figtab}
\end{table}

See, for example, \ref{block1a} and~\ref{block2b} in Table~\ref{figtab}.

\end{document}

A hyperref-compatible version of \fixedlabel is given by:

\def\fixedlabel#1#2{%
  \@bsphack
  \begingroup
    \@onelevel@sanitize\@currentlabelname
    \edef\@currentlabelname{%
      \expandafter\strip@period\@currentlabelname\relax.\relax\@@@%
    }%
    \phantomsection%
    \protected@write\@auxout{}{%
      \string\newlabel{#1}{%
        {#2}%
        {\thepage}%
        {#2}%
        {\@currentHref}{}%
      }%
    }%
  \endgroup
  \@esphack
}

Here's one possible solution using the tabu package:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}
\usepackage{tabu}
\usepackage{caption,subcaption}

\newcounter{tmp}

% \MyIm{<figure name>}{<label>}
\newcommand\MyIm[2]{%
  \captionof*{subfigure}{}
  \includegraphics[width=4cm,height=2cm]{#1}
  \captionof{subfigure}{}\label{#2}%
}

\begin{document}

\begin{center}
\setcounter{tmp}{\thefigure}
\captionsetup[subfigure]{labelformat=empty}
\begin{tabu}{>{\refstepcounter{figure}\thefigure\setcounter{subfigure}{0}}l%
  X[c,m]X[c,m]}
  \multicolumn{1}{l}{\setcounter{figure}{0}} & a & b \\[-20pt]
  & \MyIm{name1}{a} & \MyIm{name2}{b}  \\[-30pt]
  & \MyIm{name3}{c} & \MyIm{name4}{d}  \\[-30pt]
  & \MyIm{name5}{e} & \MyIm{name6}{f} 
\end{tabu}\setcounter{figure}{\thetmp} 
\end{center}

\ref{a} \ref{b} \ref{c} \ref{d} \ref{e} \ref{f}

\end{document}

Some remarks:

1. A tmp counter was used to store the value of the counter figure before the table and then, at the end the value for figure was restored

2. The subcaption package was used to provide an empty caption for each figure; this allows the easy assignment of a \label for cross-referencing.

3. This solution cooperates with hyperref; the only thing to do is to load hyperref and hypcap:

   \usepackage{hyperref}
   \usepackage{hypcap}