CHINA, 17TH CENTURY

Marble furniture played an integral role in traditional Chinese architecture and garden design. Sculptural and durable, marble furniture graced gardens and courtyards and replaced wood furniture that would have had to have been moved outside for gatherings.
This extraordinary pair of stools is not only impressive for their massive size but also for the finesse and depth of carving. Each stools is carved with octofoil cartouches enclosing pairs of writhing dragons and is flanked by pairs of mask-form handles. An impressive single and a pair of white marble stools similarly carved with mask-form handles against dense, intertwined foliate scroll were sold in The Flacks Family Collection, Part II: Curtain Call; Christie’s London, 12 May 2026, lot 1 and Christie’s New York, 18 September 2026, lot 916, respectively.