A PAIR OF FINE HUANGHUALI TAPERED CABINETS, YUANJIAOGUI

LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF FINE HUANGHUALI TAPERED CABINETS, YUANJIAOGUI
Late 16th/Early 17th Century
The splayed corner posts of thumb-molded square section, the doors with a mitred frame and four transverse braces enclosing single matched panels all cut from the same timber, the legs enclosing plain narrow aprons at the front and sides, the interior fitted with two removable shelves, baitong fittings, the original clay, ramie and lacquer remaining on the inside and back
63in. (160cm.) high, 36in. (91.5cm.) wide, 18in. (47.5cm.) deep (2)

Lot Essay

Compare the pair of cabinets, but with a removable central stile, from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture Collection, sold in these rooms, 19 September 1996, lot 19. The same pair is illustrated by Sarah Handler, "Classical Chinese Furniture in the Renaissance Collection", Orientations, January 1991, p. 43, fig. 3; by Melvin Wachowiak, "New Directions in the Study of Classical Chinese Furniture", Asian Art, Summer 1991, p. 46; and again by Sarah Handler, "Cabinets and Shelves Containing All Things in China", JCCFS, Winter 1993, p. 13, fig. 14.

Other examples are illustrated by Gustave Ecke, Chinese Domestic Furniture, p. 112, pl. 91; by Robert Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, p. 206, fig. 121; and by Grace Wu Bruce, in the Catalogue of the exhibition, The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, no. 59.