A UNUSUAL HUANGHUALI, MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID AND GILT-DECORATED SQUARE STOOL
A UNUSUAL HUANGHUALI, MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID AND GILT-DECORATED SQUARE STOOL

18TH CENTURY

Details
A UNUSUAL HUANGHUALI, MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID AND GILT-DECORATED SQUARE STOOL
18th Century
The huanghuali top with a central field of octagonal parquetry within a plain border above red lacquered sides painted with gilt foliate scroll, the recessed waist inlaid in mother of pearl and gold with fine foliate diaper surrounding shaped countersunk reserves inlaid with further mother-of-pearl diaper, all raised on a square frame with humpback stretchers decorated on the exterior with gilt phoenix on a dark red lacquer ground, with mother-of-pearl inlaid scroll spandrels in the upper corners
18.1/8in. (46cm.) high, 16in. (41.3cm.) square

Lot Essay

This combination of inlaid mother-of-pearl, painted lacquer and European-influenced parquetry appears to be very rare.

Compare the black lacquer table inlaid with mother-of-pearl dated 16th/17th century with related geometric patterns decorating the waist and illustrated in the Catalogue of the exhibition, Dragon and Phoenix: Chinese Lacquer Ware, The Lee Family Collection, Tokyo, The Museum of East Asian Art, Cologne, 24 March - 24 June 1990, p. 222, no. 98. Refer, also, to the small lacquer table with similar geometric diaper pattern, included in the exhibition Catalogue, Ch'ing Lacquer Artifacts, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1997, p. 132. A number of small items such as boxes, and trays exist which have such geometric 'brocade' decoration. See the Catalogue of the exhibition, 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, The Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 24 September - 21 November 1993, nos. 97 and 98 for such a circular box dated to the 17th century and a similar vase dated to the 18th century respectively. The entry for no. 98 mentions that there is a pair of black lacquered bookshelves now in the Palace Museum, Beijing, datable to 1673, but also suggests that this tradition of workmanship may have continued into a later period.