A PAIR OF HUANGHUALI SQUARE CORNER DISPLAY CABINETS, WANLIGUI

LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF HUANGHUALI SQUARE CORNER DISPLAY CABINETS, WANLIGUI
Late 16th/early 17th century
Each of upright rectangular shape, the square stiles enclosing an open shelf with shaped apron and spandrels carved with delicate openwork flowers and scrolling vines, above the cabinet with two floating panel removable doors set flush and fitted with circular baitong lockplates, oval pulls, and hinges, the doors opening to reveal a shelf and two drawers, the doors above a flush inset horizontal panel above a shaped apron joining the high feet
72in. (182.5cm.) high, 40¾in. (103.6cm.) wide, 21½in. (54.2cm.) deep (2)

Literature

The Hong Kong Museum of Art, In Pursuit of Antiquities: Thirty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 287, cat. no. 259.
Grace Wu Bruce, Chan Chair and Qin Bench: The Dr. S Y Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture II, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 108-109, cat. 25.

Exhibited

Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1995-1996.
Denver Art Museum, 1996-1999.

Lot Essay

It is rare for pairs of display cabinets to survive together. Compare a pair of display cabinets with low openwork railings sold at Christie's, New York, Important Chinese Furniture, Formerly the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture Collection, 19 September, 1996, lot 76.
See, also, a pair of Wanli cabinets in the Palace Museum, Beijing, with "cut-out" gallery railings, illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1990, vol. II, p. 148, D19, and a pair in the Honolulu Academy of Arts, illustrated in Stephen Little and James Jenson, "Chinese Furniture in the Honolulu Academy of Arts: The Frederic Mueller Bequest," Orientations XXII:I (January 1998), p. 77.

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