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Lot Essay
Beds were among the most important pieces of furniture in the traditional Chinese domestic setting. Large in size, they were probably the most expensive items to commission. Canopy beds such as the present example either have four or six posts with curtains that could be hung from the canopy frame to provide privacy during the night. During the day, the curtains were drawn to the sides, and the bed functioned as a couch; sometimes a side table was pulled up to the frame of the bed, or a kang table could be placed directly on the mat itself, offering a surface for tea or wine, small meals, or board games. Thus, canopy beds are versatile in use and can fulfil multiple functions, offering not only a place to sleep at night but also to act as a center of activity during the day.
The geometric decoration on the railings resembles the wan character in Chinese, which arranged repeatedly, symbolizing the wish for infinite longevity, wan shou wu jiang. A woodblock print from the Chundengmi illustrates a canopy bed with curtains pulled to the sides revealing wan character railings very similar to the present lot (fig. 1).
A huanghuali bed of similar size but with larger wan emblems on the railings is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, accession number 1961-89-1, illustrated by Michael Beurdeley in Chinese Furniture, New York, 1979, p. 83, no. 112. Another canopy bed with a related design of wan emblems on the surrounding panels is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, pp. 6-9, no. 2 (fig. 2).
Compare the present canopy bed with a similarly decorated huanghuali six-poster jiazichuan from the Heveningham Hall Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 May 2021, lot 2806.
The geometric decoration on the railings resembles the wan character in Chinese, which arranged repeatedly, symbolizing the wish for infinite longevity, wan shou wu jiang. A woodblock print from the Chundengmi illustrates a canopy bed with curtains pulled to the sides revealing wan character railings very similar to the present lot (fig. 1).
A huanghuali bed of similar size but with larger wan emblems on the railings is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, accession number 1961-89-1, illustrated by Michael Beurdeley in Chinese Furniture, New York, 1979, p. 83, no. 112. Another canopy bed with a related design of wan emblems on the surrounding panels is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, pp. 6-9, no. 2 (fig. 2).
Compare the present canopy bed with a similarly decorated huanghuali six-poster jiazichuan from the Heveningham Hall Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 May 2021, lot 2806.