The present clothes rack is almost identical in design and proportions to one owned and illustrated by Gustav Ecke in Chinese Domestic Furniture, Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, 1962, pl. 122, nos. 147, 149, 150. (Fig. 1) The present clothes rack has the same proportions and dynamic carving, seen in the floral terminals and intricate openwork panels. The current whereabouts of Ecke’s clothes rack is unknown.

Since Chinese domestic spaces did not include closets, storage chests, cabinets, and clothes racks served to store and hold clothing and garments. Heating in traditional Chinese homes was localized in the form of braziers. Garments were worn or removed in accordance with the changing temperatures, and clothing racks served as temporary storage solutions. Ming-dynasty woodblock prints show clothing racks with garments draped over the top rail and almost always in a bedroom and often near the bed. The connecting base stretchers would store shoes or boots.