Page 64 - Bonhams, The H Collection, Classical Chinese Furniture, May 13, 2021 London

Classical and elegant in its linearity and simplicity, the present daybed dating to around this period, show the most significant figures seated
is an exceptionally early and rare example fashioned from a single on raised platforms; see for example Wang Zengxin, ‘Liaoyangshi
huanghuali plank of unusually large size. Bangtaizi er hao bihua mu (Wall painting in tomb no.2, Bangtaizi,
Liaoyang)’, Kaogu, 1, 1960, p.22.
Due to its simple design and light weight, the raised platform was used
since the earliest historical phases of Chinese history. It was a highly By the Ming dynasty, platforms supported on four legs (as opposed to
versatile piece of furniture, elevated above the draughts and dampness the more typical box-like construction of earlier periods) became highly
of the floor, and thus easily suited for both indoor and outdoor popular and were constructed in various sizes. Platforms supported
purposes. Platforms could be large enough to accommodate a group on four legs could be larger and heavier structures which were no
of people of just the right size for one, such as the present example. longer easily moved. At this time, platforms were often referred to as
Unencumbered by railings, canopies and having to stay in one place, ‘Single-Sleeps’ Dushui, which the Ming connoisseur Wen Zhenheng
platforms (unlike couchbeds, canopy beds or even kang tables) are mentioned in his ‘Treatise on Superflous Things’ Zhang Wu Zhi. See
probably the very best and most classical examples of the elemental Wen Zhenheng, Treatise on Superfluous Things, Nanjing, 1984, p.241.
form of Chinese furniture.
Although Chinese beds such as the present example have been
The oldest platforms in China appear to date to the Anyang period referred to as ‘day-beds’ in the West, they were used for both daytime
of the Shang dynasty (13th-11th BC). They were made in marble sitting and night-time sleeping. Paintings and woodblock prints dating
and bronze and supported precious bronze ritual vessels. By the to the Ming dynasty often depict scholars or court ladies sitting on
Han dynasty, platforms indicated social status and served as seats their daybeds in garden settings or along riverbanks. See for example,
for dignitaries. Numerous depictions of banquet scenes, in burials ‘Reclining on An Incense Fumigator’ by Chen Hongshou (1599-1652),

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