A LARGE HUANGHUALI MIRROR STAND, SANPINGFENGSHIJINGTAI

Details

A LARGE HUANGHUALI MIRROR STAND, SANPINGFENGSHIJINGTAI
17TH CENTURY

Of unusually large proportions, the top rail decorated with a flaming pearl balanced on a ruyi cloudhead above a central openwork screen panel skillfully carved with a boy upon a qilin amid thickly flowering peony branches rising from rocks, the side panels each with a phoenix against peonies, the flowerheads depicted from different angles, the double railings flanked by end posts, the upper level with stylized chi dragons, the lower of plain panels pierced with ruyi cloud motifs, the 'lotus'-form mirror support set between the railings, above a framework enclosing three upper and two lower drawers, all carved with prunus, supported on scrolled carbriole legs joined by a cusped apron carved with entwined vines
35 7/8in. (91.2cm) high, 24 7/8in. (63.3cm.) wide, 14 5/8in. (37.2cm.) deep

Literature

Curtis Evarts, "The Classic of Lu Ban and Classical Chinese Furniture", JCCFS, Winter 1993, p. 41, fig. 19
Wang et al., Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, p. 148, no. 70

Lot Essay

Compare the mirror stand in the Honolulu Academy of Arts illustrated by Robert H. Ellsworth in Chinese Hardwood Furniture in Hawaiian Collections, p. 64, no. 46. See, also, a smaller stand with only one set of railings and a central panel of prunus and magpies included in the exhibition, The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, and illustrated by Grace Wu Bruce in the Catalogue, no. 67. Another smaller example with a central panel of a dragon and waves was sold at Sotheby's, New York, October 18-19, 1990, lot 538