17TH CENTURY

This exceptional pair of stools has a commanding elegance, distinguished by strong curves and the crisp bands of bosses encircling the seat and foot. The subtly rounded form of the stools seen in the outward-curving legs perfectly balances the rhythmic undulations of the aprons at the top and the bottom, and is further emphasized by the fine beading. According to Wang Shixiang in Wang and Evarts, Masterpieces From the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, p. 40, Beijing craftsman referred to this shape created by the gently rounded corners as dongguazhuang (winter-melon-shaped opening with concave sides). Bands of rounded bosses add the only decorative element to this nuanced and simple form and are a reference to the bands of nail heads used on drums to fasten animal skins to the frames. This decorative element is also seen in barrel-form stools in cloisonné enamel and porcelain.

It is unusual to find a pair of barrel-form stools with mat seats. Barrel-form stools are commonly seen with hardwood or marble-inset seats, such as a related example in hongmu with a marble top illustrated by R. H. Ellsworth, in Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, New York, 1971, p. 97, pl. 90. A variation of this specific design with ovoid body and bands of bosses, but constructed with rounded stretchers joined by a central band, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 61. (Fig. 1). An almost identical example in walnut is illustrated in M. Flacks, Classical Chinese Furniture: A Very Personal Point of View, London, 2011, pp., 100-102.