Lot Essay
Low cabinets such as the current example would normally have reticulated doors to enable the circulation of air, thereby keeping mildew away. Most of the cabinets of this type have lock receptacles to incorporate locks, reflecting the fact that they might be used to store valuables. The curvilinear apron underneath the lower stretcher with confronting chi dragons over squared keyfret scrolls are an interesting feature which suggest a date of the later half of the Kangxi period. Published examples of low cabinets with reticulated doors are particularly rare, but a zitan three-part cabinet, also in the Hung collection is published by R. Ellsworth in Chinese Furniture: The Hung Collection, New York, 1996, no. 79. Another huanghuali cabinet with latticework upper doors is illustrated by Robert D. Jacobsen in Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, no. 47.