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Lot Essay
A purplish-black, fine-grained hardwood, zitan was considered one of the most prized hardwoods by the Chinese. The density of the wood makes this material especially suitable for fine and intricate carving and when polished the wood’s lustrous surface creates a jade-like effect. This combination of highly decorative and shimmering surface made zitan the preferred material for Imperial Qing-dynasty furniture and interior settings.
The Yangxindian (Palace of Mental Cultivation), a three-room pavilion reserved for receiving court officials by the Emperor, illustrated by Yu Zhuoyun in Palaces of the Forbidden City, Hong Kong, 1982, p. 90-4, displays the sumptuous effect of a complex furnished almost entirely with zitan furniture. The elaborately decorated interiors open onto the main receiving room centered by an imposing throne flanked by pairs of pole supports and elegant incense stands in front and a towering three-panel screen. By furnishing the interiors with ornate zitan furniture, the Emperor constructed an image of power, luxury, and importance to all visiting counselors.
The wood's scarcity was compounded by the fact that the trees themselves are slow growing and require centuries to fully mature into usable material making a table of this massive size incredibly rare. It is more common to find tables of this massive scale in huanghuali. A magnificent huanghuali trestle-leg table of similar scale and size, carved on the aprons with stylized elephant heads, was sold at Christie’s New York, 25 March 2022, lot 1016.
The Yangxindian (Palace of Mental Cultivation), a three-room pavilion reserved for receiving court officials by the Emperor, illustrated by Yu Zhuoyun in Palaces of the Forbidden City, Hong Kong, 1982, p. 90-4, displays the sumptuous effect of a complex furnished almost entirely with zitan furniture. The elaborately decorated interiors open onto the main receiving room centered by an imposing throne flanked by pairs of pole supports and elegant incense stands in front and a towering three-panel screen. By furnishing the interiors with ornate zitan furniture, the Emperor constructed an image of power, luxury, and importance to all visiting counselors.
The wood's scarcity was compounded by the fact that the trees themselves are slow growing and require centuries to fully mature into usable material making a table of this massive size incredibly rare. It is more common to find tables of this massive scale in huanghuali. A magnificent huanghuali trestle-leg table of similar scale and size, carved on the aprons with stylized elephant heads, was sold at Christie’s New York, 25 March 2022, lot 1016.