Page 142 - SOTHEBYS MARCH 18 AND 19 2025

Fig 1. A burl-inset ‘huanghuali’ tapered cabinet (Yuanjiaogui), 16th-17th century
© Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
圖1 十六至十七世紀 黃花梨嵌癭木圓角櫃 © 洛杉磯郡立藝術館，洛杉磯

This rare and masterfully carved cabinet, with its extravagant Wang Shixiang, ibid., p. 85, also states that medium-sized
use of burl inlay and solid, square-membered frame of yuanjiaogui like the present example were known in Suzhou
huanghuali, would not have been out of place in the studio as shuchu (book cabinets) and were used by scholars and
of a scholar of the most refined taste, and was indeed likely officials for storing books. Certainly the lavish use of the
commissioned by a wealthy official in the late Ming or early yingmu burl of the door panels is a hallmark of the scholarly
Qing dynasty. taste associated with Suzhou in the Ming dynasty, as
contrasts between light and dark, in this case the golden
As Wang Shixiang elucidates in Connoisseurship of Chinese tones of the huanghuali members and the dark burl panels,
Furniture, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 85, yuanjiaogui (round corner were particularly appreciated by Ming furniture collectors.
cabinets) derive their names from the projecting top frame
of the cabinet (which typically have rounded corners), Due to the difficulty in procuring large panels of burlwood,
which support projecting pivots at the top of the doors, cabinets inlaid with the material are relatively rare. A pair of
allowing them to hinge. Square corner cabinets (fangjiaogui), cabinets of similar proportions to the present example is in
in contrast, utilize metal mounted hinges, and as such the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, illustrated
the projecting top frame is not necessary. The present on the Museum’s website (accession no. F72-54/2). The burl
example belongs to a rare subset of yuanjiaogui which inlay in the Nelson-Atkins pair, however, is limited to the door
have square members instead of rounded members, which panels, and the members are round in form. A single, round
lend the overall form a sense of solidity. In this case, the member example with burl limited to the doors is held in the
cabinetmaker has added a stylistic flourish by molding all of collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (accession
the front- and side-facing members, and all four sides of the no. M.2005.169) (Fig. 1). Compare another pair, smaller than
top frame, with a concave curve, thus balancing out some our example and again with round members, formerly in
of the angularity of a typical square-membered yuanjiaogui. the collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, sold at Christie’s
This molding extends even to the floating central stile and New York, 18th March 2015, lot 115; and a pair of later square-
small framing member above the doors. membered burl-inset huanghuali cabinets sold in these rooms,
31st March 2005, lot 301, and again more recently at Christie’s
New York, 22nd September 2023, lot 961.

280 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11744