18TH CENTURY

In China, the present form of cabinet was referred to as a kanggui or "cabinet for a kang." In recent years this general term has often been applied to cabinets of this smaller form, although these incidentally may have actually been used on a kang, and can also be seen used as tabletop cabinets and in other settings. One of the most unusual features seen on the present cabinet is the addition of the small carved elements on the front apron on either side of the central ruyi head. It is possible that these may symbolize fish, although this design element does not appear to be found on other published examples and may in fact be a regional feature.

A tapered cabinet of similar form with shaped apron and circular shield-shaped emblem, is illustrated by Wang Shixiang in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Qing Dynasties, vol. II, 1990, Hong Kong, p. 150, no. D21. Another similar cabinet of somewhat larger size (33 in. high) dated to the late 16th century, from the Alice Boney Collection, is illustrated by R. H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ch'ing Dynasties, 1997, Hong Kong, p. 208, fig. 123, although the illustrated example lacks the elegantly shaped and finely carved apron seen on the present example. Also compare a round-corner kang cabinet dated to the late 16th century, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Piccus, sold at Christie's, New York, 18 September 1997, lot 32.