Lot 88. A rare pair of huanghuali compound cabinets, sijiangui, Ming dynasty, 17th century; 126.5 by 63 by h. 251 cm, 50 by 24 ¾ by h. 98 ¾ in. Estimate: 5,000,000 - 7,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 8,040,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

each comprising a hat chest resting on a larger rectangular cabinet, the cabinet set with a pair of hinged doors composed of floating panels within rectangular frames flanking a central stile, opening to a shelved interior with two drawers, fitted with a circular baitong lockplate with pin and 'fish' pull handles, above a shaped beaded apron carved in relief with a pair of dragons confronted with a lotus bloom amidst ruyi cloud scrolls, raised on legs of square section with baitong mounts, the hat chest echoing the cabinet's construction without the apron and legs.

Provenance : Peter Lai Antiques, Hong Kong, 10th April 1990.

Note: These massive cabinets are the largest type of furniture produced by Ming cabinet makers. Composed of a wide square-corner cabinet and a smaller chest that was placed on top, they combine functionality, durability, elegance and simplicity, characteristics that define classical Chinese furniture. The masterful craftsmanship in the present lot with the decoration of the turbulent waves on jagged rocks on the sides in particular suggests an imperial association for the cabinets. Compound cabinets were the piece-of-resistance in the home of wealthy families. Displayed in inner reception halls or kept in the women private quarters, their sheer size and angular silhouette were designed to create an impression of awe. In a passage from the 18th century novel Honglou meng [The dream of the red chamber], Granny Liu, an elderly country woman describes seeing for the first time the furniture in the Jia family compound: "They say that 'great families live in great houses' and truly when I first went into Your Ladyship's apartment yesterday and saw those great chests and cupboards and tables and beds, they took my breath away. That great wardrobe of yours is higher and wider than one of our rooms back home".

 Chinese garments were never hanged but folded into flat rectangles and stacked in cabinets, and the large size of these cabinets made them ideal for storing garments or other large items. The upper chests, which were less accessible and often required a ladder to reach them, were used for storing accessories or garments that were needed less frequently. Large chests were part of a bride's dowry, and the Ming dynasty novel Jin Ping Mei [Plum in the Golden Vase], reveals that lady's fur coats were kept in large cabinets (da chu) that could be locked.

 Two pairs of compound cabinets, one pair with the apron gracefully shaped but undecorated, and the second made of camphor wood and the apron carved with chrysanthemums, formerly in the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture in California, are illustrated in Sarah Handler, 'Proportion and Joinery in Four-part Wardrobes', Chinese Furniture. Selected Articles from Orientations 1984-1999, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 36-7, pls 1 and 2; and a cabinet was sold in our New York rooms, 21st September 2006, lot 34