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PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT AMERICAN PRIVATE 十七世紀 黃花梨羅鍋棖有束腰馬蹄足方
COLLECTION
凳一對
A PAIR OF ‘HUANGHUALI’ CORNER-LEG
STOOLS (FANGDENG), 17TH CENTURY 來源
英國私人收藏，購於1987年5月18日
(2)
Height 20⅜ in., 51.6 cm; Width 19⅛ in., 48.6 cm; 倫敦蘇富比1992年6月9日，編號47
Depth 17⅝ in., 44.8 cm
PROVENANCE
British Private Collection, acquired 18th May 1987.
Sotheby’s London, 9th June 1992, lot 47.
This pair of waisted huanghuali stools is notable for its sturdy
appearance achieved through the legs that end in horse-
hoof feet. Stools of this classical form with humpbacked
stretchers were produced in large numbers from the Ming
dynasty (1368-1644) onwards, as their small size and light
weight made them highly versatile. George N. Kates also
notes that in the Tang dynasty (618-907) the stool in all
its varieties ‘was considered the ideal seat for a woman’
because sitting on it displays the curves of a lady’s back,
neck and shoulders to best advantage, while the position
is considered modest to others, see Chinese Household
Furniture, New York, 1948, p. 49).
Compare a pair from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts,
Minneapolis, illustrated in Robert D. Jacobsen and Nicholas
Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis
Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, fig. 2. pp. 38-9; one
illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Classic Chinese Furniture.
Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1986, pl. 15; and
another pair sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th November
2012, lot 2007. Compare also a related piece, illustrated in
Robert H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture. Hardwood Examples
of the Ming and Early Ch’ing Dynasties, New York, 1971,
pl. 115, and sold at Christie’s New York, 25th September
2020, lot 1655; one sold at Christie’s Hong Kong,
28th November 2012, lot 2007; and a pair sold at Christie’s
New York, 23rd March 2018, lot 963.
◉ $ 50,000-70,000

334 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11744 335