Page 164 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE ASIAN COLLECTION
~1667
A RARE HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU ROUND-CORNER TAPERED
CABINET, YUANJIAOGUI
17TH CENTURY
The beautifully proportioned cabinet is constructed with a rounded, The combination of huanghuali and huamu burl was popular in classical
protruding, rectangular, molded top supported on elegantly splayed legs of Chinese furniture construction, forming a pleasing aesthetic, with the lighter
rounded square section. The doors are constructed from two large panels of huanghuali providing an attractive contrast to the darker, swirled grain of
attractively grained huanghuali on either side of a narrow huanghuali panel the burl. An especially elegant example of a huamu burl-inset huanghuali
fnely carved in openwork with a double-ruyi-form cartouche and further inset round-corner cabinet, formerly in the Arch. Ignazio Vok Collection, illustrated
with huamu burl. The doors ft fush around the removable center stile and by Nicholas Grindley et al., Pure Form: Classical Chinese Furniture: Vok
open to reveal the shelved interior, all above plain aprons and spandrels on the Collection, Padua, 2004, pl. 1, was sold at Christie’s New York, 17-18
front and sides. September 2015, lot 2032.
70 in. (177.8 cm.) high, 36º in. (92 cm.) wide, 19Ω in.(49.5 cm.) deep
The present round-corner cabinet is a superb example of its type in both
proportion and form. It is made even rarer by the huamu burl-inset panels
$200,000-300,000
bisecting the foating huanghuali panels. A rare pair of huanghuali, huamu,
nanmu, and boxwood cabinets, illustrated by Marcus Flacks, Classical
PROVENANCE Chinese Furniture: a very personal point of view, London, 2011, pp. 166-67,
Ambassador Milton Freeman, Carmel, California. exhibits similar door composition—huanghuali door frames enclose two
Sotheby’s New York, 23 April 1987, lot 515. panels of attractively grained huamu set on either side of a narrow huanghuali
Nicholas Grindley, London, 1987. panel carved with a stylized foral motif.
EXHIBITED
Cabinets constructed with paneled doors are a design feature more
Pasadena, California, Pacifc Asia Museum, 1980.
commonly found on carved lacquer and painted lacquer prototypes. A gilt-
decorated black lacquer cabinet with paneled doors, decorated with pairs of
writhing dragons on the larger panels and a dragon chasing a faming pearl
on the narrow panel, dated to the Wanli Period, is illustrated in The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum – 53 – Furniture of the Ming
and Qing Dynasties (1), Hong Kong, 2002, p. 208-9, pl. 177. Another similarly
constructed red lacquer cabinet, carved with dragons chasing faming
pearls on a yellow ground, currently in the Oesterreichisches Museum
für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, is illustrated in Michel Beurdeley, Chinese
Furniture, New York, 1979, p. 102-103, pls. 139-141.
十七世紀 黃花梨圓角櫃

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