Lot 146. A pair of marble-inset huanghuali fluted stools, 17th-18th century; h. 41.5 cm. Lot sold: 1,134,000 HKD (Estimate: 200,000 - 300,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2022

each of barrel-form with twenty elegant lobed ribs, the top inset with a circular marble panel, all raised on five short feet.

Provenance: R.H. Ellsworth Ltd, New York, 21st December 1987.

Note: In form, the present pair of fluted stools draws inspiration from nature. The gracefully lobed seats are enhanced by the dreamstone-inset top and small protruding feet. See a similar stool in the collection of Alice Boney, illustrated in Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ch'ing Dynasty, London, 1998, pl. 104; and a melon-shaped fluted stool with ring handles but without marble inset included in Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1980, pl. A38.

Sotheby's. HOTUNG  The Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung: Part 1, Hong Kong, 9 October 2022