A HUANGHUALI TOWEL RACK AND WASHBASIN STAND, MIANPENJIA

Details

A HUANGHUALI TOWEL RACK AND WASHBASIN STAND, MIANPENJIA
LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

The toprail terminating in crisply carved lingzhi fungus, joining the two back posts, the posts with openwork hanging spandrels of leafy tendrils, and a central panel well carved with blossoming magnolia rising from rockwork, above a curvilinear apron carved with entwined vines, itself above a narrow shelf with beaded edge supported by an apron with openwork scrolls, the legs joined at the top and bottom by crossed stretchers and topped by lotus finials, the basin of later date
70 1/8in. (178cm.) high, 21 5/8in. (55cm.) wide, 19in. (48cm.) deep

Literature

Grace Wu Bruce, Chinese Classical Furniture, col. pl. 25
Wang et al., Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, p. 174, no. 81

Lot Essay

See Sarah Handler's article, "Ablutions and Washing Clean: The Chinese Washbasin and Stand", JCCFS, Autumn 1991, pp. 23-36, where she illustrates a number of these stands. The elaborately carved aprons below the central panel and shelf on this example appear, however, to be rather unusual. A slightly plainer example is illustrated by Wang Shixiang in Connoisseurship of Chinese Funiture, vol. II, p. 185, E43