Page 110 - Christies March 16, 2017 The Varata Collection NYC

There are three basic forms of lamp or lantern stands constructed in wood. The As published by Gustav Ecke. Alternate view of lot 626.
most commonly found examples depicted in paintings and wood block illustrations 本拍品經古斯塔夫•艾克著錄（拍品編號626）
are in the form of a tripod base with a post and out-curving arm that suspends
a lantern and sometimes has a dragon-head terminal. The second form is
constructed similarly to a foor or table screen with two uprights and a central
adjustable post. Examples of this form include a pair in the Minneapolis Institute
of Arts illustrated by Robert Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley, Classical Chinese
Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Chicago, pp. 168-9, no. 59, and a pair
formerly in the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 18 March
2015, lot 104. The present lamp stand falls into the third category, which is akin to
the ‘suspending lantern’ stand. This design is constructed with a cruciform base and
strong spandrels fanking the vertical post surmounted by a platform upon which
a free-standing candlestick or dish set with a pricket would rest. An example of
this type of lamp stand is depicted in a woodblock print from the Lu Ban Jing and
illustrated by K. Ruitenbeek, Carpentry & Building in Late Imperial China: A Study of
the Fifteenth-Century Carpenter’s Manual Lu Ban Jing, 1993, the Netherlands, p. 32,
Juan II:69.

Ruitenbeek reconstructs various forms of furniture using the measurements listed
in the Lu Ban Jing. The present lamp stand follows the description of a lamp stand
in Lu Ban Jing Juan II:71, and is called a candle stand. The published description
lists the dimensions as 4 chi high (approx. 120-128 cm.), and is mounted with a
round platforms, unlike the present example that have octagonal platforms. The
manual cites that the base should measure 8 cun 4 fen in diameter (roughly 25 cm.),
however, this is most likely a transposition error, as this would create a very unstable
stand, further there are no extant examples of lamp stands of this dimension.

A closely related pair of huanghuali lamp stands with shaped standing spandrels
and elaborately carved feet is illustrated by Philip Mak in Furnishing the Gracious
Chinese Home, Hong Kong, 2016, p. 62, no. 16. For additional related lamp stands,
see a pair of huanghuali lamp stands currently in the Nelson-Atkins Museum,
illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, 1990, E47, p.
100 and p. 188, and a pair of zitan lamp stands formerly in the Museum of Classical
Chinese Furniture, sold at Christie’s New York, 19 September 1996, lot 60.

As published by Robert Ellsworth. Courtesy of Hei Hung Lu.
本拍品經安思遠著錄。圖片提供：黑洪祿

108 THE MARIE THERESA L. V I R ATA C O L L E C T I O N OF ASIAN ART: A FAMILY LEGACY