AN IMPORTANT PAIR OF ZITAN RECTANGULAR STOOLS, CHANGFANGDENG

17TH CENTURY

Details

AN IMPORTANT PAIR OF ZITAN RECTANGULAR STOOLS, CHANGFANGDENG
17th Century
Each with a hard-mat seat set in a rectangular framed top with rounded edge and indented beading above a concave waist and simple beaded apron formed from a single piece of wood, supported on straight legs of square section terminating in hoof feet, joined by straight, beaded stretchers with a single vertical pillar-shaped strut on each side, the zitan an attractive, rich brown tone
19¼in. (49cm.) high, 19½in. (49.5cm.) wide, 16½in. (42cm.) deep (2)

Literature

Curtis Evarts, ''Classical Chinese Furniture in the Piccus Collection'', JCCFS, Autumn 1992, p. 9, fig. 6-6a

Grace Wu Bruce, ''Classic Chinese Furniture in Tzu-T'an Wood'', Arts of Asia, November-December 1991, p. 146, fig. 16

Lot Essay

The construction of these stools incorporates a sophisticated variation of the common wedge-shaped tenon usually dovetailed into the back of an apron for attachment to the frame and stabilizing support. Here, the double-mitered, pillar-shaped strut which neatly fits between each stretcher and apron, extends behind the apron within a dovetail groove and fits into a mortise in the bottom of the seat frame (see p. , fig. 10)

It has been suggested that the unusual design of these stools draws on bronze fangding, given the height of the legs and the possible influence of a taotie mask in the shapes created by the stretchers and struts