A LARGE HUANGHUALI THREE-DRAWER COFFER

Prospective purchasers are advised that several co… Read more

PROPERTY FROM THE NANCY AND ED ROSENTHAL COLLECTION

Details

A LARGE HUANGHUALI THREE-DRAWER COFFER
The single-panel top is set in a rectangular frame fitted with everted ends above three drawers and a single attractively grained horizontal floating panel above shaped, finely beaded apron carved at the center with a lotus bloom. The whole is raised on gently splayed legs of square section.
33 ¼ in. (84.3 cm.) high, 79 ¾ in. (200.8 cm.) wide, 22 ¼ in. (56.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

Chan Shing Kee, Hong Kong, February 2001.

Literature

V. Bower, S. Handler and J. Burris, Brush Clay Wood: The Nancy and Ed Rosenthal Collection of Chinese Art, Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, 2008, p. 56, fig. 26.

Exhibited

Cincinnati, Taft Museum of Art, Brush Clay Wood: The Nancy and Ed Rosenthal Collection of Chinese Art, 7 November 2008 - 11 January 2009.

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Lot Essay

Compare a related two-drawer huanghuali coffer also exhibiting the same elegant splay of the legs joined by the finely carved cusped apron illustrated by S. Handler in Ming Furniture in the Light of Chinese Architecture, Berkeley, 2005, p. 173. See, also a three-drawer altar coffer in the Victoria & Albert Museum, set with elaborate openwork side spandrels illustrated by C. Clunas in Chinese Furniture, London, 1988, p. 84, pl. 68. For a discussion of this form, refer to Curtis Everts, "The Enigmatic Altar Coffer," Journal of the Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Autumn 1994, pp. 29-44.

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