A rare huanghuali roubd-corner tapered cabinet,yuanjiaogui, 17th century. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2013

With top panels set within the beaded, rounded frame, extending beyond the thick corner posts of rounded section, with attractively figured panels on the sides and doors, set within beaded frames and opening to reveal the shelved interior, all above plain aprons and spandrels on each side; 49 3/8 in. (125.4 cm.) high, 34 3/8 in. (87.3 cm.) wide, 18½ in. (47 cm.) deep. Estimate $180,000 - $250,000 - Price Realized: $183,750

Provenance: Nicholas Grindley, 2002

Literature: Nicholas Grindley, Nicholas Grindley, New York, March, 2002, no. 7.

Exhibited: Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox (US), Ltd., 15-23 March 2002.

Notes: The round-corner tapered cabinet, or yuanjiaogui,, is amongst the most beautiful and elegant designs in all of classical Chinese furniture. The very subtle splay in its design lends a sense of stability and balance to the form while retaining a very graceful and pleasing profile. The form was widely used in cabinet making throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties.

As suggested by Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, vol. I, 1990, Hong Kong, pp. 82 and 85, cabinets and stands with shelves fall into four essential types: bookcases and open shelf stands (jiage), cabinets with open shelves (liangegui), round-corner tapered cabinets (yuanjiaogui), and square-corner cabinets (fangjiaogui). The present cabinet falls into the third above- mentioned form, the round-corner tapered cabinet oryuanjiaogui. Round-cornered cabinets are usually splayed with round-edged tops that protrude beyond the side posts, and the present cabinet is no exception to this standard. Interestingly, there is a difference in the historical terminology between northern and southern China whereby in the north the term for cabinet, gui, was referred to as chu in the south.

For a discussion of the development of Chinese cabinet forms see Sarah Handler, "Cabinets and Shelves Containing All Things in China," Journal of The Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Winter, 1993, pp. 4-29, wherein she illustrates a similar albeit much larger example of this form (73 in. high), p. 13, from the collection of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Handler explains that it was not until the 15th century that the tapered cabinet became a more commonly found type of domestic furniture form.

Several examples of this type are known. One of slightly smaller size (47 5/16 in. high) dated to the 17th century in the collection of The Minneapolis Institute of Arts illustrated by Robert D. Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley in Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, 1999, pp. 150-51, no. 52, where the authors note that "round-corner, sloping style cabinets, yuanjiaogui, were made in sizes ranging from those suitable for table tops to more imposing storage furniture over seven feet in height." See another cabinet illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, vol. II, Hong Kong, 1990, no. D22. See, also, the slightly smaller (48 7/8 in. high) cabinet, sold at Christie's, Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2015. A larger pair of cabinets (72½ in. high) illustrated by Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts,Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago, 1995, pp. 130-31, no. 61, later sold at Christie's, New York, 19 September 1996, lot 19.

Christie's. Fine Huanghuali Furniture From an Important Private American Collection. 21 March 2013. New York, Rockefeller Plaza.