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Lot Essay
Bookcases such as the current lot are commonly refered to as shujia or shuge, the basic forms of which are discussed by Wang Shixiang, et.al., in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1995, vol. I, pp. 82-4.
The restrained decoration and use of nanmu as the primary wood provides a subtle and elegant refinement, and bookcases such as these would have been well suited to the studio of a scholar. For a huanghuali bookcase of similar form, dated to the 16th-17th century, see G.W. Bruce, Dreams of Chu Tan Chamber and the Romance with Huanghuali Wood: The Dr. S.Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1991, p. 107, no. 40.
The restrained decoration and use of nanmu as the primary wood provides a subtle and elegant refinement, and bookcases such as these would have been well suited to the studio of a scholar. For a huanghuali bookcase of similar form, dated to the 16th-17th century, see G.W. Bruce, Dreams of Chu Tan Chamber and the Romance with Huanghuali Wood: The Dr. S.Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1991, p. 107, no. 40.