Page 168 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT NORTH AMERICAN COLLECTION
1668
A LARGE AND IMPRESSIVE ZITAN LUOHAN BED,
LUOHANCHUANG
17TH-18TH CENTURY WITH MODIFICATIONS
The hard mat seat is set into the rectangular frame above the narrow waist
and plain, beaded aprons crisply carved with chilong confronted on a central
medallion enclosing stylized mythical beasts, the side aprons further carved
with chilong confronted on a sash-tied ruyi. The whole is raised on solid, thickly
beaded, inward-curving legs. The stepped railings are carved in openwork
with an attractive lattice design.
41 in. (104 cm.) high, 86æ in. (220.3 cm.) wide, 57æ in. (146.7 cm.) deep

$400,000-600,000

Zitan is a general term which includes numerous species of wood, however,
it is commonly agreed that it belongs to the genus Pterocarpus. A purplish-
black, fne-grained hardwood, zitan was considered the most prized
hardwood by the Chinese. The density of the wood makes this material
especially suitable for fne and intricate carving and when combined with
its jade-like, lustrous surface made this the preferred material for imperial
furniture. Government records dating to the Longqing period (1537-1572)
show that even in this early period, zitan already commanded the highest
price and was subject to the heaviest import tax. See Wang Shixiang,
Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, Chicago, 1990, p. 149, for further
discussion of the import tax and prices for timber. Due to the scarcity and
the expense of this luxurious material, its use was scrupulously monitored
and carefully restricted, with severe punishment or fnes for irresponsible
usage or wastage.

There are only a handful of zitan canopy beds with their original canopy
published. An ornately carved six-post zitan canopy bed, dating to the mid-
eighteenth-nineteenth century, is illustrated in My Humble House, Zitan,
the Most Noble Hardwood, Taiwan, 1996, pp. 138-39. The present bed is an
example of a seventeenth-eighteenth century zitan canopy bed that was
converted into a luohanchuang. Conversions in Chinese furniture occurred
in the Ming and Qing dynasties and it is not surprising that a canopy bed,
which can be dificult to accommodate, would have been converted into a
much more usable form, such as a luohan bed. It is rare to fnd a converted
canopy bed as carefully and thoughtfully executed as the present bed. The
quality of the timber seen in the bed platform and the rails are consistent
suggesting that the openwork rails were constructed from material salvaged
from the canopy, rails, and other elements. The complete bed must have
been an impressive example in both size and workmanship. The luohan bed
in its present state is equally as impressive. Modifying a piece of furniture of
this large scale would have been a highly complicated venture executed by a
master craftsman. The massive, solid and inward-curving, tall legs and the
confdent fnesse of the dynamic carving on the aprons suggest the work of a
master woodworking workshop.
Even during the Ming period, sourcing high quality zitan was a challenge.
Zitan trees are slow growing and require centuries to fully mature into usable
material. Further, the timber in its raw form is twisted or gnarled. The almost
fawless timber, relatively free from knots, of the present bed suggest that
the master carpenter not only had access to but could aford high quality
material.
十七/十八世紀 紫檀三屏式鏤雕欞格羅漢床

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