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Lot Essay
According to Grace Wu Bruce in her article published in Oriental Art, “the five-clawed dragons on the present piece must mean that our example was at least intended for use in the imperial household.” Upon closer examination of carved dragons on furniture, Bruce discovers that the present example is the only piece of hardwood furniture featuring five-clawed dragons.
Prior to the establishment of the Palace workshops for Imperial furniture in the early Qing dynasty, it is almost impossible to pinpoint specific regions or workshops for the manufacturing of furniture. It is hypothesized by Craig Clunas that Imperial furniture from the Ming dynasty was produced in the lower Yangtze River region. Hu Desheng further notes in The Palace Museum Collection: A Treasury of Ming and Qing Dynasty Palace Furniture, vol. 1, that “the high quality of furniture produced in the Suzhou region was regularly shipped along with Imperial provisions to the Imperial gardens, villas, courts and palaces in Beijing” (p. 14).
The dynamic and striking dragons confronted on a flaming pearl masterfully carved on the aprons of the present example firmly date the table to the Wanli Period (1573-1619), and can be compared to those on an Imperial double-dragon carpet, exquisitely woven with similar animated dragons chasing a flaming pearl on a tan ground sold at Christie’s New York, 11 December 2014, lot 8 (fig 1). The carpet belongs to a group of fifty-one carpets from the Palace Museum, Beijing, dated to the Wanli Period (1573-1620), which all have the same dense weave, balance of design, and vibrant use of color. The Imperial iconography of the writhing dragon seen on the carpet and the carved apron are remarkably similar, in particular the powerful five claws, long horns and whiskers, and sinuous, scaly body and tail. A related dynamic five-clawed dragon, also with a lithe scaly body, appears on a six-character Wanli mark and period blue and white leys jar, zhadou formerly in the Falk Collection and sold at Christie's New York, The Falk Collection I: Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art: 16 October 2001, lot 146. (fig. 2)
Prior to the establishment of the Palace workshops for Imperial furniture in the early Qing dynasty, it is almost impossible to pinpoint specific regions or workshops for the manufacturing of furniture. It is hypothesized by Craig Clunas that Imperial furniture from the Ming dynasty was produced in the lower Yangtze River region. Hu Desheng further notes in The Palace Museum Collection: A Treasury of Ming and Qing Dynasty Palace Furniture, vol. 1, that “the high quality of furniture produced in the Suzhou region was regularly shipped along with Imperial provisions to the Imperial gardens, villas, courts and palaces in Beijing” (p. 14).
The dynamic and striking dragons confronted on a flaming pearl masterfully carved on the aprons of the present example firmly date the table to the Wanli Period (1573-1619), and can be compared to those on an Imperial double-dragon carpet, exquisitely woven with similar animated dragons chasing a flaming pearl on a tan ground sold at Christie’s New York, 11 December 2014, lot 8 (fig 1). The carpet belongs to a group of fifty-one carpets from the Palace Museum, Beijing, dated to the Wanli Period (1573-1620), which all have the same dense weave, balance of design, and vibrant use of color. The Imperial iconography of the writhing dragon seen on the carpet and the carved apron are remarkably similar, in particular the powerful five claws, long horns and whiskers, and sinuous, scaly body and tail. A related dynamic five-clawed dragon, also with a lithe scaly body, appears on a six-character Wanli mark and period blue and white leys jar, zhadou formerly in the Falk Collection and sold at Christie's New York, The Falk Collection I: Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art: 16 October 2001, lot 146. (fig. 2)