CHINA, 17TH CENTURY

The pair of stools are modeled after a drum, with the rows of raised bosses at the top and bottom imitating the nail heads that would have secured the leather taut on the drum. The present pair in marble reference their more commonly seen counterparts in huanghuali or hongmu, such as a burl-inlaid huanghuali stool illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, p. 76, no. 61.

A pair of white marble ‘drum’ stools dated to the 17^th century of similar height and carved with four large oval openings on the sides, was sold at Christie’s New York, 16 September 2016, lot 1136.