A MARBLE-INSET ZITAN CORNER-LEG STAND

18TH-19TH CENTURY

Details

A MARBLE-INSET ZITAN CORNER-LEG STAND
18TH-19TH CENTURY
The pale grey and white variegated marble top is set flush in the molded, rectangular frame above a narrow waist. The whole is raised on elegantly carved and beaded cabriole legs terminating in slightly incurved feet joined by a continuous base stretcher of conforming shape.
3 ¼ in. (8.3 cm.) high, 8 5/8 in. (22 cm.) wide, 7 ½ in. (19.2 cm.) deep

Provenance

Sir Abe Bailey Collection (1864-1940), Cape Town, South Africa.
Acquired in Cape Town, South Africa, 1960s.

Lot Essay

Durable, easy to clean, resistant to both fire and water, marble-inset tops provided protection to surfaces from daily activities such as the burning of incense or pouring of wine. Portable examples, such as the present stand, would have been easily transported from the garden to the scholar's studio and would have been essential to everyday life. An eighteenth-century illustration from the novel Jin Ping Mei, shows a square marble-inset stand similar to the present example supporting the "Three Friends of Incense" (the incense tool vase, incense burner, and incense powder box).

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