Page 20 - Fine Chinese Ceramics Sept 2016

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MR. AND MRS. Cabinets of this type were likely to have been flled with books,
JONATHAN AUERBACH scrolls, or paintings. To facilitate transport and to protect the
traveling case from moisture or insects, the cabinet was raised
1206 on a ftted base and ftted with an upright frame and would have
A HUANGHUALI SQUARE-CORNER TRAVELING been carried at either end of a long carrying pole. Consequently,
BOOKCASE, TUSHUXINGGUI the stress placed on the frame required a particularly strong
17TH-18TH CENTURY construction, reinforced with inlaid hardware. For a discussion
The top and sides of the bookcase are constructed from of metal fttings on bookcases, see an article by Curtis Evarts,
attractively-grained single panels of huanghuali. The single panels “Uniting Elegance and Utility: Metal Mounts on Chinese
on the doors are set into rectangular frames, and open to reveal Furniture”, JCCFS, Summer 1994, pp. 27-47.
the interior, which is ftted with drawers. The whole is set into a
huanghuali platform base, with baitong mounts and handles on the A smaller huanghuali medicine cabinet (58 cm.), in the collection
sides. of Dr. R. J. C. Hoeppli, is illustrated by G. Ecke, Domestic Chinese
Furniture, Rutland and Tokyo, 1962, p. 135, fg. 107, where Ecke
32 in. (81.3 cm.) high, 25 in. (63.5 cm.) wide, 14 in. (35.6 cm.) deep illustrates the chest with the doors open revealing numerous
drawers. See, also, a similar huamu traveling bookcase of larger
$120,000-180,000 proportion and inset with nanmu-burl doors sold at Christie’s New
York, 17 September 2015, lot 911.
PROVENANCE
十七/十八世紀 黃花梨圖書行櫃
Grace Wu Bruce, Hong Kong.