AN EXTREMELY RARE IMPERIAL EMBELLISHED ZITAN OPENWORK DISPLAY CABINET

Lot 1925

1925

Details

AN EXTREMELY RARE IMPERIAL EMBELLISHED ZITAN OPENWORK DISPLAY CABINET
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

The square and rectangular shelves set at varying levels and bordered with reticulated silver wire-inlaid scrollwork borders, the left side with a small drawer below a compartment enclosed by a pair of hinged doors inlaid with white jade carvings of immortals among clouds, a second small drawer on the right side, all above a longer drawer spanning the length of the base, the drawers detailed in low relief with further scrollwork, the reverse intricately carved and pierced in various levels of relief and embellished to depict figures travelling through a vertiginous mountainous landscape towards a retreat nestled within the rocky outcrops, the elaborate mountainous scene continuing on both sides as an extension of the separate trestle stand supporting the cabinet which is further carved with archaistic scrollwork, scattered throughout with additional later Japanese embellishments
29 1/8 x 25 3/8 x 12 1/2 in. (74 x 64.2 x 31.6 cm.)

Provenance

The Maeda Family Collection
The Ozaki family
Shimabayashi Genka

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Lot Essay

Compare with a zitan table screen in the Palace Collection, Beijing which is carved to one side, as the present cabinet with a landscape scene depicting the Lanting Pavilion illustrated in Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 99, no. 91. The reverse is made up of a set of eight stacked drawers and is an example of the way table screens occasionally doubled as display cabinets or storage.

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