Page 84 - Bonhams, The H Collection, Classical Chinese Furniture, May 13, 2021 London

17 TP Y
A PAIR OF RARE HUANGHUALI, BURLWOOD AND FRUITWOOD
ROUND-CORNER CABINETS, YUANJIAOGUI
17th/18th century
Each sloping-stile cabinet with a protruding round-cornered top
supported on slightly-tapered corner posts, enclosing a well-figured
pair of burlwood door leaves separated by a removable stile, the side
panels composed of two-board floating panels, the interior fitted with
two shelves, all above a plain narrow apron and spandrels on legs of
square section, the reddish colour of the huanghuali frame contrasting
with the variegated burlwood panels set with baitong fittings.
113cm (44 1/2in) high x 85cm (33 1/2in) wide x 50cm (19 6/8in) deep. (2).

£120,000 - 150,000
CNY1,100,000 - 1,400,000

十七/十八世紀 黃花梨癭木圓角櫃成對

Provenance:
An important European private collection

來源：
歐洲重要私人收藏

Notable for their elegant and tapering lines and the powerful swirls and
hues of the wood, the present cabinets are among the most successful
forms of classical Chinese furniture. The very subtle taper in their design
lends a sense of stability and balance to the form while retaining a very
graceful and pleasing profile, and the gently tapering sides convey the
illusion of height and lightness.

Round-corner cabinets are one of the four types of cabinets with shelves
created by Chinese furniture makers, along with open-shelf stands
jiage, cabinets with open shelves liangegui and square-corner cabinets
fangjiaogui. See Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture:
Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1990, vol.1, pp.82 and 85.

According to Sarah Handler, the form of tapering cabinets originated from
large chests with panelled doors which, by the Song period, were kept
on large tables and used to store silk cloths. See an example of these
large chests depicted in a handscroll painting, attributed to the Southern
Song dynasty (1127-1279), illustrated by S.Handler, Austere Luminosity of
Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkeley, 2001, p.244, pl.15.5. In later times,
medium-sized cabinets such as the present examples were often kept in
scholars’ studios and used to store books, scrolls or writing instruments.
A hanging scroll from the set of ‘Eighteen Scholars of the Tang Dynasty’,
dating to the Ming dynasty and in the National Palace Museum, Taipei,
depicts a scholar beside a small cabinet about to select a work from the
books and scrolls stacked on the shelves; see L.Lin, Catalogue to the
Special Exhibition of Furniture in Paintings, Taipei, 1996, pl.9.

Compare with a similar huanghuali, burlwood and nanmu round-corner
cabinet, late 16th-early 18th century, in the Haven Collection, University
Museum, Hong Kong, illustrated by Chu Pak Lau, Classical Chinese
Huanghuali Furniture, Hong Kong, 2016, p.227, no.54. See also a related
pair of similar huanghuali and burlwood cabinets, 17th century, illustrated
by R.H.Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, New York, 1970, pl.122.

A very similar but slightly smaller huanghuali and burlwood round-corner
cabinet, 18th century, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 6 October 2015,
lot 263.

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