18TH-19TH CENTURY

Richly carved with dynamic five-clawed dragons against a dense landscape of swirling clouds, the present pair could have been arranged on a large kang platforms similar to the miniature display shelves in Yang Xin Dian (The Hall of Mental Cultivation), photographed in situ in Daily Life in the Forbidden City: The Qing dynasty, 1644-1912, Hong Kong, 1988, pp. 126-127, pl. 172. A pair of massive zitan ‘dragon’ compound cabinets and hatchests were sold at Christie’s New York, 15 September 2017, lot 962.