Page 184 - 2020 October 8 HK Fine Classical Paintings

These massive cabinets are the largest type of furniture Chinese garments were never hanged but folded into flat 此對櫃用料講究，木質細密油潤，櫃內髹朱漆，牙板
produced by Ming cabinet makers. Composed of a wide rectangles and stacked in cabinets, and the large size of these 中央雕雙龍供蓮，两側飾江崖海水，氣勢非凡，應為
square-corner cabinet and a smaller chest that was placed cabinets made them ideal for storing garments or other large 皇家之物。縱覽明式家具，屬頂箱櫃最為敦碩。方角
on top, they combine functionality, durability, elegance items. The upper chests, which were less accessible and
and simplicity, characteristics that define classical Chinese often required a ladder to reach them, were used for storing 大櫃上設較小頂箱，實用耐久，簡雅素麗，堪稱中式
furniture. The masterful craftsmanship in the present lot with accessories or garments that were needed less frequently. 家具儀範。
the decoration of the turbulent waves on jagged rocks on the Large chests were part of a bride’s dowry, and the Ming
sides in particular suggests an imperial association for the dynasty novel Jin Ping Mei [Plum in the Golden Vase], reveals 頂箱櫃乃朱門大戶之傲人家什，或置於內廳，或立於
cabinets.Compound cabinets were the piece-of-resistance that lady’s fur coats were kept in large cabinets (da chu) that 閨房，尺寸醒目，輪廓挺拔，引人油然嘆羨。《紅樓
in the home of wealthy families. Displayed in inner reception could be locked. 夢》中，村嫗劉姥姥入大觀園，生平頭一回見到賈府
halls or kept in the women private quarters, their sheer size Two pairs of compound cabinets, one pair with the apron
and angular silhouette were designed to create an impression gracefully shaped but undecorated, and the second made of 家具，只道：「人人都說大家子住大房，昨兒見了老
of awe. In a passage from the 18th century novel Honglou camphor wood and the apron carved with chrysanthemums, 太太正房，配上大箱、大櫃、大桌子、大床，果然威
meng [The dream of the red chamber], Granny Liu, an elderly formerly in the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture in 武。那櫃子比我們一間房子還大還高。」
country woman describes seeing for the first time the furniture California, are illustrated in Sarah Handler, ‘Proportion and
in the Jia family compound: “They say that ‘great families Joinery in Four-part Wardrobes’, Chinese Furniture. Selected 中式衣物不興懸掛，而是折疊平整後放入櫃中，此類
live in great houses’ and truly when I first went into Your Articles from Orientations 1984-1999, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 大櫃存放日常衣物或大件什物尤為理想。頂箱需梯子
Ladyship’s apartment yesterday and saw those great chests 36-7, pls 1 and 2; and a cabinet was sold in our New York
and cupboards and tables and beds, they took my breath rooms, 21st September 2006, lot 34. 方可夠到，故宜儲放首飾及日常不用之衣物。大箱亦
away. That great wardrobe of yours is higher and wider than 作女子嫁妝，讀《金瓶梅》又知，婦人所穿貂皮大襖
one of our rooms back home”. 便放在帶鎖大櫥裡。

可比兩對頂箱櫃，一對，牙條造型優美，未施雕飾，
另一對，樟木造，牙條雕菊花，原中國古典家具博物
館所藏，加利福尼亞，見 Sarah Handler，《Proportion
and Joinery in Four-part Wardrobes》，刊於《Chinese
Furniture. Selected Articles from Orientations 1984-1999》
，香港，1999年，頁36-37，圖版1及2；市場上曾見一
例，售於紐約蘇富比2006年9月21日，編號34。

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