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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.




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