17TH CENTURY

Details

A FINE HUANGHUALI APOTHECARY CABINET, YAOXIANG
17TH CENTURY
Of rectangular form, fronted by a pair of paneled doors, the interior fitted with twenty-eight huanghuali drawers of various sizes and shapes, each with chrysanthemum-shaped baitong drawer mounts. The top and base square corner fittings, the plain rectangular hinges, door escutcheons with loose rectangular pulls, loose ring handles set on sides and four ring attachments to base also baitong, the wood an attractive golden hue
30¾ in. (78.1 cm.) high, 28 in. (71.1 cm.) wide, 15 in. (38.9 cm.) deep

Provenance

Christie's New York, March 20 1997, The Jingguangtang Collection Part II, lot 8.

Lot Essay

The twenty-eight drawers are considered a reference to the twenty-eight constellations.

The rings at the base were intended to secure rope around the chest for the purposes of transportation.

See a similar example illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Classic Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1986, pp. 236 and 303, no. 159.

See also, Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Dynasties, vol. I, Hong Kong, 1990, pp. 94-5, for a discussion on apothecary chests.

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