18TH-19TH CENTURY

Details

A GILT-LACQUERED ZITAN AND HARDWOOD DISPLAY CABINET
18TH-19TH CENTURY
The upper portion of the cabinet is formed with tiered shelves of varying height, shape and size, framed by openwork friezes depicting lotus scrolls. The back panel is lacquered black and finely painted in gilt with figures in a mountainous landscape. The lower section is formed with a small compartment on the right side enclosed by a pair of openwork hinged doors, beside a central small drawer and a pair of larger drawers below, all above a pair of hinged doors carved with figures riding mythical beasts beside pine and wutong trees. The side panels and the interiors of the drawers and compartments are gilt and lacquered with floral sprays. The hinges and lock plates are intricately incised with archaistic dragon scrolls.
76 ½ in. (194.3 cm.) high; 37 in. (94 cm.) wide; 32 ½ in. (82.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

Property of a gentleman, acquired by the vendor's family in the 1970s.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction. All sold and unsold lots marked with a filled square in the catalogue that are not cleared from Christie’s by 5:00 pm on the day of the sale, and all sold and unsold lots not cleared from Christie’s by 5:00 pm on the fifth Friday following the sale, will be removed to the warehouse of ‘Cadogan Tate’. Please note that there will be no charge to purchasers who collect their lots within two weeks of this sale.

Lot Essay

Compare the current lot to a very similar display cabinet, dating to the 18th century, which sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 May 2007, lot 1398.
Two comparable zitan display cabinets are in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2002, p. 254, no. 216 and p. 269, no. 228. The first example displays similar finely-rendered gilt lacquer landscape decoration to the back panels. The latter is of related form and structure, but lacks the gilt lacquer decoration seen on the current lot.

More from Chinese Ceramics, Works of Art And Textiles Part I

View All