Lot 6009. A pair of huanghuali square stools, fangdeng, 17th-18th century; 19 1/4 x 14 7/8 x 15in (49 x 37.7 x 38cm). Estimate US$ 20,000 - 30,000 (€18,000 - 27,000). Sold for US$ 93,750 (€ 75,042). Photo: Bonhams.

Each two-board floating panel top set into a miter, mortise-and-tenon frame with "ice-plate" edge and one transverse stretcher underneath, all over a recessed waist and plain apron carved from one piece of wood and mitred, mortised, tenoned and half-lapped to the legs which are joined by hump-back stretchers and end in hoof feet. 

Provenance: Grace Wu Bruce, purchased 4 October 1996.

Notes: See a similar pair Wang Shixiang. Classic Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties. London: Han-Shan Tang, 1986, no. 61.

Corner leg stools were widely used in the Ming period due to their ease of portability and social informality. With the apron and waist carved from one piece of wood, stools provided great stability and durability. For a discussion of the history of stools, see Jacobsen, op. cit. , page 38, and Wang, (1991), Vol 1, pp. 102-104.

For related examples sold at auction, see Sotheby's, London, Classical Chinese Furniture from a European Private Collection, lots 3 and 21, 11 November 2015; and set of four stools of slightly larger size, sold Christie's, Hong Kong, The Feng Wen Tang Collection of Bamboo Carvings and Furniture, Lot 2810, 3 June, 2015.

Bonhams. A TASTE FOR THE REMARKABLE. The John and Celeste Fleming collection of Chinese Furniture and Works of Art, 10:00 EDT - NEW YORK