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Lot Essay
The trend towards archaism was especially popular with the three great Qing emperors, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, who were all avid collectors and connoisseurs of antiques. Numerous works of art commissioned in the style of ancient wares were produced throughout their reigns, and furniture was no exception. The elaborate interlocked scroll pattern found on the present table seems to be a feature found on many pieces of furniture made during the reign of the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors. See, for example, a gilt-decorated black-lacquered bed dated to the Yongzheng period, also carved with archaistic scroll, in the Qing Court collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II), Hong Kong, 2002, pp. 6-7, no. 4. See, also, pp. 8-9, no. 5, for a Yongzheng period gilt-decorated luohan bed painted with landscape panels in a very similar fashion to those found on the present throne. Two throne chairs, also painted with similar landscapes in gilding on a black lacquer ground, are illustrated ibid., p. 27, no. 20 and p. 36, no. 28. Compare, also, the archaistic scroll-form rails and aprons found on an early 17th century lacquered throne chair in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by M. Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture, New York, 1979, p. 126, no. 171.