A HUANGHUALI LUOHAN BED WITH OPENWORK RAILINGS, LUOHANCHUANG

Details

A HUANGHUALI LUOHAN BED WITH OPENWORK RAILINGS, LUOHANCHUANG
17TH CENTURY

The soft-mat seat within a thick, rectangular frame with convex edge supported on round legs joined by low base stretchers, the legs flanked by uprights enclosing rectangular latticework, all suggestive of bamboo furniture, the back railing with a central rectangular panel connected to the frame members and seat by short struts and divided into three sections, each with a beaded cartouche-shaped opening, the side railings with conforming panels, baitong caps on back legs
31in. (79cm.) seat height, 83 7/8in. (213cm.) wide, 51¼in. (130cm.) deep

Literature

Sarah Handler, "Comfort and Joy: A Couch Bed for Day and Night", JCCFS, Winter 1991, p. 18, fig. 20
Wang et al., Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, p. 12, no. 6

Lot Essay

A zitan and softwood bed of similar design in the Shanghai Museum, with 'twisted rope' and 'begonia'-shaped apertures, formerly in the Wang Shixiang Collection, is illustrated by Wang Shixiang in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, vol. II, p. 133, C13. The same bed is also illustrated by Wang in Classic Chinese Furniture, pp. 186-187, no. 125. See, also, the jichimu example from the Robert and William Drummond Collection illustrated by George N. Kates in Chinese Household Furniture, no. 70. A hongmu example is in Hong Kong in the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection

Refer to Ronald W. Longsdorf, "Chinese Bamboo Furniture, Its Influence on Hardwood Furniture Design", Orientations, January 1994, pp.76-83, where the author discusses the features of bamboo furniture carried over to hardwood forms, such as rounded members, 'wrap-around' stretchers, 'stacked' stretchers and use of closely placed vertical struts