17TH/18TH CENTURY

The present cabinet, with its simple lines, represents one of the most popular and successful designs in Chinese furniture construction, and was widely used in cabinet making throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties. Several examples of this type, and its square-corner counterpart are known. Compare the pair of huanghuali tapered cabinets, although lacking center stiles, illustrated by R.H. Ellsworth in Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, pp. 192-93, no. 75, where they are dated to the early 17th century. A slightly larger (120 cm.) huanghuali round-corner tapered cabinet in the collection of The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, is illustrated by R. Jacobson and N. Grindley in Classical Chinese Furniture, Minnesota, 1999, pp. 150-51, no. 52. See, also, the huanghuali round-corner tapered cabinet from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, sold in these rooms, 18 March 2009, lot 383, and the zitan and wumu example of the same form, dated to the 18th century and formerly in the Piccus Collection, sold in these rooms, 19 March 2008, lot 375.