Page 21 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

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A HUANGHUALI THREE-DRAWER DESK, DALIANSHI SANTISHUZHUO

17TH-18TH CENTURY

The paneled top is set in a thick rectangular frame above three drawers mounted with baitong
square lock plates and loop handles. The whole is supported on legs of square section set with
shaped corner spandrels and terminating in hoof feet.
32º in. (81.9 cm.) high, 62Ω in. (158.8 cm.) wide, 22Ω in. (57.2 cm.) deep
$200,000-300,000

PROVENANCE

Grace Wu Bruce, Hong Kong, 2011.

Extant early examples of writing tables appear to be very rare. As Wang Shi Xiang notes in
Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, vol. I, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 72, these early precursors to the desk
are characterized by their simple three or fve-drawer form, with the drawers ftted between the top and
humpback stretchers. During the mid to late Qing dynasty, the number of drawers increased and the
form evolved into the more familiar desk construction with removable tops placed on separate pedestals.
Wang Shi Xiang illustrates line drawings of two examples, one in hongmu, the other in huanghuali, ibid.,
vol. II, p. 116, B121 and B122. G. Kates illustrates two huanghuali examples from his own collection and
the collection of Jean-Pierre Dubosc in Chinese Household Furniture, New York, 1948, nos. 52 and 53.
Another, smaller huanghuali table with drawers, dated to the late 16th-early 17th century, is illustrated by
G. Wu Bruce, Living with Ming - the Lu Ming Shi Collection, 2000, p. 107, no. 21.
明末/清十八世紀 黃花梨褡褳式三屜書桌

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