Page 124 - Bonhams, The H Collection, Classical Chinese Furniture, May 13, 2021 London

31 TP Y
A RARE PAIR OF HUANGHUALI WAISTED CORNER-LEG STOOLS,
FANGDENG
17th century
Both stools gracefully proportioned, the rectangular frame mitered and
with moulded edges, the soft-mat seat supported on bowed transverse
stretchers, with a recessed waist turning into a plain straight apron,
raised on legs of square section terminating in hoof feet.
44.5cm (17 1/2in) high x 50cm (19 5/8in) wide x 50cm (19 5/8in) deep (2).

£40,000 - 60,000
CNY360,000 - 540,000

十七世紀 黃花梨有束腰羅鍋棖方凳成對

Provenance:
An important European private collection

來源：
歐洲重要私人收藏

Notable for their restrained design and understated elegance, the 方材，攢框裝軟屜，弧型托棖，冰盤沿上舒下斂，層次豐富。有束
present pair of stools was suited to a variety of settings. Examples exist 腰，羅鍋棖。四腿並非完全垂直，下端略向內兜轉，弧線柔和，足底
in a variety of designs, with both soft and hard-mat seats, with and 馬蹄高翻，是明代杌凳的典型設計。本例比例勻稱，是設計簡約純
without stretchers, and with and without carved surface decoration. 粹、線條優美明式家具之代表作。

Stools were the most common seating during the Ming period and 杌凳這類明代最為常見的坐具，被認為是中國最早的坐具形式之一。
are considered by scholars to be amongst the earliest seating forms 南京博物館館藏江蘇出土一件東周時期青銅禮器碎片，鑄有杌凳形
in China. They were used since at least the Eastern Zhou period (770- 紋飾。公元四至五世紀的佛教石窟壁畫中，也 可見杌凳用作神明的
221 BC), as suggested by the depiction of a stool on a fragment of a 坐具。Sarah Handler認為，中國古代的桌椅皆由杌凳這種基本形式
bronze vessel excavated in Jiangsu Province, displayed in the Nanjing 演化而來——添加扶手即為椅，擴大尺寸則成桌；見S.Handler著，
Museum. In later dynasties, stools were also used as formal seats for 《Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture》，柏克萊，2001
deities, as shown in wall frescoes of Buddhist caves in North China, 年，頁82-102頁。
dated to the fourth and fifth century AD. According to Sarah Handler,
chairs and tables in China developed from the basic design of stools, 參考一例十七世紀黃花梨杌凳，見王世襄著，《明式家具研究》，
so that ‘adding armrests conclusively changes a stool into a chair: 卷二，香港，2016年，頁19，編號A3；及有關杌凳的形式綜述，
expanding the dimensions of the stool’s top produces a table’; see 見卷一，頁27-31。另有一對十七世紀黃花梨長方凳，售於紐約佳士
S.Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkeley 得，2013年3月21日，拍品編號925，可資比對。
and London, 2001, pp.82-102.

For similar huanghuali stools, 17th century, see Wang Shixiang,
Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, vol.2, Hong Kong, 2016, p.19,
no.A3 and vol.1, pp.27-31, where the author discusses the general
form. Compare with a similar pair of huanghuali stools, 17th century,
which was sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2013, lot 925.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
122 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.