Provenance: Nicholas Grindley, 1997.

Literature: S. Leece and M. Freeman, China Style, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 55.

Note: It has been suggested that the four-poster bed was more likely to have been found in a man's apartment, due to its 'pleasant refinement and elegant simplicity without stylish adornment,' as cited by Wen Zhenheng in his early Ming guide to stylish living, Zhangwuzhi (Treatise on Superfluous Things). The author also suggests that the six-poster 'wedding bed' may have been a dowry item brought into the marriage with the bride, and was more likely to be found in the women's quarters.

Compare the four-poster huanghuali canopy bed, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2012, lot 4075. Two additional four-poster canopy beds have been sold at Christie's New York; one in tiger maple, from the Gangolf Geis Collection, on 18 September 2003, lot 28, and the other in nanmu, sold on 21 March 2000, lot 41. However, the present bed, with its juxtaposition of latticework top frame and solid plank sides, is a particularly dramatic and attractive example.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 13 - 14 September 2018