18TH-19TH CENTURY

Details

A TWO-DRAWER HUANGHUALI COFFER
18TH-19TH CENTURY
The two-panel top is set in a rectangular frame above two drawers and a single floating panel, with a plain, beaded apron and spandrels below. The whole is raised on gently splayed, beaded legs joined by pairs of stretchers.
34 ½ in. (87.5 cm.) high, 54 ¾ in. (139.1 cm.) wide, 20 1/8 in. (51.1 cm) deep

Provenance

Sotheby’s New York, 6 May 1982, lot 289.
Nicholas Grindley, London, 1982.

Exhibited

On loan: Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1983-1994.

Special notice

Lots made of or including (regardless of the percentage) endangered and other protected species of wildlife are marked with the symbol ~ in the catalogue. This material includes, among other things, ivory, tortoiseshell, crocodile skin, rhinoceros horn, whalebone certain species of coral, and Brazilian rosewood. You should check the relevant customs laws and regulations before bidding on any lot containing wildlife material if you plan to import the lot into another country. Several countries refuse to allow you to import property containing these materials, and some other countries require a licence from the relevant regulatory agencies in the countries of exportation as well as importation. In some cases, the lot can only be shipped with an independent scientific confirmation of species and/or age, and you will need to obtain these at your own cost.

Lot Essay

Compare a related two-drawer huanghuali coffer, set with everted ends and with a shaped, beaded apron, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, illustrated by C. Clunas, Chinese Furniture, London, 1998, p. 84, no. 67. See another two-drawer huanghuali coffer of related proportions sold at Christie's New York: The Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Part II: Chinese Furniturer, Scholar's Objects and Chinese Paintings, 18 March 2015, lot 167. For a discussion of this form, refer to Curtis Everts, "The Enigmatic Altar Coffer," Journal of the Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Autumn 1994, pp. 29-44.

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