Details
A PAIR OF HUANGHUALI SQUARE-CORNER CABINETS
LATE MING DYNASTY
Of imposing size and excellent material, the top of the cabinet is of mitre, mortise and tenon frame construction with a tongue-and-grooved, floating panel supported by two dovetailed transverse stretchers underneath. There are exposed tenons on the short sides of the frame. The four square uprights, pyramid-joined to the top, each with one long tenon exposed, are edged with line mouldings, a gently curved one ending in a narrow flat bead, where they meet the side, back panels and the doors. The top frame members are similarly moulded. In front near the top, a stretcher with a central raised flat band and similar line mouldings on both sides, is mitred, mortised, and tenoned to the uprights above the doors, and above it is inset a recessed panel. The removable doors, on either side of the removable central stile, are of standard mitred, mortised, and tenoned frame single board, floating panel construction, with two transverse dovetailed stretchers tennoned into the door frame on the insides. The door frame members are similarly edged with line mouldings where they meet the recessed door panels. Below the doors are two mitred stretchers, similarly decorated as the stretcher above the doors. A tongue-and-grooved recessed panel is inset between them, forming a cabinet cavity behind. Below is a beautifully shaped, beaded-edged, curvilinear apron. There are similar aprons on the sides and back. Inside the cabinet, there is a central section which constitutes a shelf and two drawers with baitong plates and pulls. Below there are two wood-hinged covers for the cabinet cavity, with baitong plates and ring pulls. The two back panels are removable. The rectangular baitong door hinges are inlaid. The central plates, also rectangular and inlaid, have three lock receptacles and shaped door pulls. Every member of these cabinets, including the top panels, inside stretchers, and back panels, is made of huanghuali wood.
41 3⁄8 in. (105 cm.) wide, 24 5⁄8 in. (62.6 cm.) deep, 73 5⁄8 in. (187 cm.) high
Provenance
Grace Wu Bruce, Hong Kong
Dr. S Y Yip Collection, Hong Kong, 1991-2002
Sold at Christie’s New York, The Dr. Yip Collection of Important Chinese Furniture, 20 September 2002, lot 41
The MQJ Collection, Hong Kong
Literature
Grace Wu Bruce, Dreams of Chu Tan Chamber and Romance with Huanghuali Wood: The Dr. S Y Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1991, pp. 116-117, no. 45
Grace Wu Bruce, Two Decades of Ming Furniture, Beijing, 2010, pp. 203-205
Grace Wu, The Best of the Best- The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture- vol. 2, Beijing, 2017, pp. 344-349
Grace Wu, Three Decades of Ming Furniture, Beijing, 2024, pp. 199-201
Exhibited
Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 20 September-24 November 1991
Singapore, National Heritage Board, Asian Civilisations Museum, 1997-1999
London, Institute of Contemporary Arts, 18-26 November 1999
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, The Best of the Best- The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture, 29 September-2 October 2017
Christie’s Hong Kong, A Special Exhibition of the MQJ Collection, 11-15 October 2024
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