Lot 832. A very rare huanghuali Kang table, 17th century; 35.5 cm high, 117 cm wide, 31 cm deep. Price realised USD 20,600 (Estimate USD 150,000 – USD 200,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2024

Provenance: Private American collection, Kansas, 1969.

Note: Of trestle-leg table form, the present magnificent and rare kang table displays the same subtle grace and power as its larger counterpart. Of substantial material measuring 117 cm. in length, the solid plank top is supported on thick, beaded and pierced legs. The thick panel legs are carved from a single plank and pierced at the center with a stylized ruyi. The profile of the leg undulates creating subtle movement in the line. A large, single panel, as seen on this example, best displays the rich and vibrant grain for which huanghuali is famous. The golden hue and energetic grain would be an ideal setting for the appreciation of ceramics or paintings.

It is rare to find kang tables with this elongated proportion and most significantly with a solid plank top. A plank-top huanghuali kang table of slightly larger proportions was sold in Ming Furniture: The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection; Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 October 2015, lot 135. Compare, another longer (131 cm. long) plank-top huanghuali kang table with carved aprons and splayed feet illustrated by Grace Wu Bruce in Two Decades of Ming Furniture, Beijing, 2010, p. 86.

Lot 831. A very rare huanghuali display shelf, 17th century; 174.6 cm high, 79.4 cm wide, 31.8 cm deep. Price realised USD 214,200 (Estimate USD 120,000 – USD 180,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2024

Provenance: MD Flacks Ltd, New York, 1999.
Daniel Shapiro Collection, New York.
Private collection, Connecticut, 2009.
Private collection, Europe, 2016.

Literature: M. Flacks, Classical Chinese Furniture: A Very Personal Point of View, London, 2011, pp. 174-175.

Note: Bookcases and open shelf stands are referred to as shujia or shuge, the basic forms of which are discussed by Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 82, D1-3. Open shelf stands are constructed from four vertical uprights joined by shelves and drawers. Carved openwork gallery rails or the use of woods of contrasting color or grain add decorative flare to this simple form, such as a huanghuali, wumu and tielimu four-shelf bookcase in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, published in R. Jacobson and N. Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, p. 143. See, also, another example in huanghuali and wumu, with wumu openwork panels formerly in the collection of the Museum of Classical Chinese furniture and illustrated by Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, p. 122-123, no. 57.

The present display shelf has strong lines and elegant proportions creating a balanced form. The three generously-spaced shelves enhance the feeling of lightness and volume within this rigid geometry. The restrained design and lacquered softwood back provides a subtle and elegant air of refinement. A display shelf such as this would have been well suited to the studio of a scholar. An open-back zitan and nanmu bookcase, illustrated in the Vok Collection, illustrated in N. Grindley and F. Hufnagel, Pure Form: Classical Chinese Furniture: Vok Collection, Munich, 2004, pl. 3, displays similar fixed shelving devoid of decorative panels, creating an austere and refined bearing, which is enhanced by the bookcase's slender proportions and height. A pair of huanghuali bookshelves was sold at A Connoisseur’s Studio – The Cissy and Robert Tang Collection of Chinese Classical Furniture; Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2023, lot 2708.

Lot 830. A rare pair of huanghuali barrel-form stools, 17th century; 48.9 cm high, 36.2 cm diam. Price realised USD 138,600 (Estimate USD 120,000 – USD 180,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2024

Provenance: Private collection, Washington, 1982.

Note: This pair of stools has a commanding elegance, distinguished by strong curves and the crisp bands of bosses encircling the seat and foot. The subtly rounded form of the stools seen in the outward-curving legs balances the rhythmic undulations of the aprons at the top and the bottom, and is further emphasized by the fine beading. According to Wang Shixiang in Wang and Evarts, Masterpieces From the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, p. 40, Beijing craftsman referred to this shape created by the gently rounded corners as dongguazhuang (winter-melon-shaped opening with concave sides). Bands of rounded bosses add the only decorative element to this nuanced and simple form and are a reference to the bands of nail heads used on drums to fasten animal skins to the frames. This decorative element is also seen in barrel-form stools in cloisonné enamel and porcelain.

A variation of this specific design with ovoid body and bands of bosses, but constructed with rounded stretchers joined by a central band, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 61. An almost identical example in walnut is illustrated in M. Flacks, Classical Chinese Furniture: A Very Personal Point of View, London, 2011, pp., 100-102. A pair of larger huanghuali barrel-form stools of this same design, formerly in the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, was sold at Christie’s New York, 22 September 2022, lot 793.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 19–20 September 2024