Lot Essay
Compare the example, formerly in the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture Collection, discussed by Wang Shixiang in 'Jianyue Minglian' (The Beauty of Ming Furniture), Gugong wenwu yuekan (National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art), Taiwan, May 1993, no. 122, p. 9; and again in 'The Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture in America', JCCFS, Autumn 1993, p. 51, no. 7. The bed, also discussed by Wang et al., Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, 1995, p. 22, no. 11, was sold in these rooms 19 September 1996, lot 62.
A related canopy bed was included in the exhibition, Beyond the Screen, and illustrated by Nancy Berliner in the Catalogue, no. 16. See the article by Curtis Evarts, 'The Furniture Maker and the Woodworking Traditions of China', in the same Catalogue, pp. 58-59, where he discusses a group of these high-waisted canopy beds, including one in the Great Mosque in Xi'an, and one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and suggests that they were produced by a specialized workshop in northern China over several generations.
Compare the present lot with ornate decoration and six posters to the smaller and less elaborate four-poster bed (lot 81). It has been suggested that the present lot, a wedding bed, was more likely to be found in the ladies' apartments and the four-poster bed in the men's quarters.
A related canopy bed was included in the exhibition, Beyond the Screen, and illustrated by Nancy Berliner in the Catalogue, no. 16. See the article by Curtis Evarts, 'The Furniture Maker and the Woodworking Traditions of China', in the same Catalogue, pp. 58-59, where he discusses a group of these high-waisted canopy beds, including one in the Great Mosque in Xi'an, and one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and suggests that they were produced by a specialized workshop in northern China over several generations.
Compare the present lot with ornate decoration and six posters to the smaller and less elaborate four-poster bed (lot 81). It has been suggested that the present lot, a wedding bed, was more likely to be found in the ladies' apartments and the four-poster bed in the men's quarters.