A HUANGHUALI LUOHAN BED, LUOHANCHUANG

LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

細節

A HUANGHUALI LUOHAN BED, LUOHANCHUANG
Late 16th/early 17th century
Of superb quality and massive form, the rectangular mat set within a frame above a recessed waist and a wide, beaded, curvilinear apron carved with intertwined tendrils, the legs of solid construction terminating in hoof feet, the low single plank railings richly carved, the back panel with a pair of confronted dragons on either side of a flaming pearl, and each side panel with a single hornless dragon with a foliate tail
30½in. (77.2cm.) high, 81¾in. (207.4cm.) long, 42in. (107cm.) deep

出版

Grace Wu Bruce, Dreams of Chu Tan Chamber and Romance with Huanghuali Wood: The Dr. S Y Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1991, pp. 128 and foldouts, cat. 50.

展覽

Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 20 September-24 November, 1991.
Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 18-26 November, 1999.
National Heritage Board, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, 1996-1999.

拍品專文

Compare a similar luohan bed in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, illustrated in R.H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ch'ing Dynasties, New York, 1971, p. 145, pl. 36, and a zitan luohan bed in the collection of Mrs. Zhu Guangmu, Beijing, illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Classic Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, London, 1986, pl. 122.

See, also, a similar but more austere luohan bed, without carved decoration, illustrated in R.D. Jacobsen, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Instititute of Arts, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1999, pp. 82-83, no. 22.

For a discussion of the varied uses of this style of bed, see Sarah Handler, "Comfort and Joy: A Couch Bed for Day and Night," Journal of the Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Winter 1991, pp. 4-19, and the corresponding chapter in her Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkeley, 2001, ch. 9, pp. 122-138.