Lot 2912. Property from The Mingjishantang Collection. A rare large huanghuali travelling scholar's bookcase, tushuxinggui, Ming dynasty, late 16th-early 17th century; 78.8 cm wide, 45.5 cm deep, 84 cm high. Price realised HKD 6,300,000 (Estimate HKD 5,000,000 – HKD 8,000,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2023.

Provenance: Grace Wu Bruce, Hong Kong, acquired in January 1995.

Literature: Grace Wu Bruce, Two Decades of Ming Furniture, Beijing, 2010, p.185
Grace Wu Bruce, Ming Furniture Through My Eyes, Beijing, 2015, p.189

Exhibited: Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana on loan from 1997 to 2021.

Note: The present travelling bookcase entirely made of huanghuali is distinguished by the careful selection of material, most noticeably seen in the elegant, flaring grain of the doors, single floating panel sides and top, and the elegant proportions. The travelling case has the added refined feature of the rare, undulating carrying handle, which elegantly compliments the rigid geometry of this form. Large bookcases were likely to filled with books, scrolls, or paintings intended for use by scholars or government officials. To protect the traveling case from moisture or insects, the cabinet was raised on a fitted base and upright frame. Bookcases of this large size could not be lifted by the wooden handle alone if filled with books, and they were most likely suspended from carrying poles with strong cords that passed under the bottom of the case. Compare to one slightly smaller huanghuali travelling scholar’s bookcases (70 cm. high), illustrated by Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 58. Compare also a huanghuali travelling bookcase of similar form and size , illustrated in Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Chicago, 1999, no. 70.

Lot 2913. Property from The Mingjishantang Collection. A pair of huanghuali rectangular waisted stools, changfangdeng, Ming dynasty, late 16th-early 17th century; 51cm high, 56cm wide, 47cm deep. Price realised HKD 4,788,000 (Estimate HKD 1,200,000 – HKD 1,800,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2023.

Provenance: The Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Renaissance, California
Sold at Christie’s New York, Important Chinese Furniture, Formerly the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture Collection, 19 September 1996, lot 9.

Literature: Wang Shixiang, ‘Jianyue Minglian’ (The Beauty of Ming Furniture), National Palace Museum Periodicals, May 1993, no. 122, P. 5
Wang Shixiang, ‘’The Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture in California’, Journal of the Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Autumn 1993, p. 47, no. 2
Sarah Handler, ‘The Ubiquitous Stool’, Journal of the Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Summer 1994, p. 14, fig. 17
Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, pp. 34-35, no. 16 ( fig.1).

Exhibited: Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana, on loan from 1997 to 2021.

Note: Although waisted stools with horse-hoof feet are common, the current pair of huanghuali stools are distinguished for its elegant proportion with inward-curved legs. Wang Shixiang wrote in Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, p. 34, that the current pair 'will always rank among the best examples of these basic forms'.
Compare to an example in the Beijing Central Academy of Arts and Crafts with a smaller seat frame and straighter, thinner legs, illustrated by Wang Shixiang in Classic Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, San Francisco, 1986, p. 61, no. 15.

Lot 2914. Property from The Mingjishantang Collection. An unusually large huanghuali bed, luohanchuang, 17th century; 80 cm high, 217 cm wide, 127 cm deep. Price realised HKD 4,788,000 (Estimate HKD 1,200,000 – HKD 1,800,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2023.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong in the early 1990s.

Note: This unusually deep luohan bed is distinguished by its massive, gently incurved legs with tall horse-hoof feet.

Lot 2936. A rare huanghuali dressing case with mirror stand, Ming dynasty, 17th century; 50 cm high, 42.5 cm wide, 28 cm deep. Price realised HKD 604,800(Estimate HKD 350,000 – HKD 550,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2023.

NoteB The tall central top panel is carved with a dragon surrounding a scrolling stem of lingzhi framed by small lingzhi heads at each corner, flanked by two lower panels behind a bean-shaped support for the mirror. The whole is raised on a rectangular cabinet, the two front panel doors are mounted with vase-shaped pulls, which open to reveal the interior with three drawers.