Lot 5. A very rare Chinese large spotted bamboo luohan bed, luohanchuang, 18th-19th century; 81.3 cm high, 210.8 cm wide, 130.9 cm deep. Price realised USD 44,100 (Estimate USD 40,000 – USD 60,000). © Christie's 2024

Of deep form with attractively spotted bamboo seat, the back and side rails framing latticework elements above the triple-beaded frame, the whole raised on pairs of narrow legs joined by shaped spandrels and the base stretcher.

Property from a Distinguished Private American Collection.

Provenance: Cola Ma, Hong Kong.

Note: In China, bamboo has traditionally held a place of significance within literati culture. Together with the flowering plum and pine, they form the ‘Three Friends of Winter’ for their ability to withstand the cold and remain green. Upright and sturdy, yet easily bending with the wind, bamboo came to signify moral integrity among the literati elite, and has served as a constant source of inspiration for poets and painters, alike.

When compared to their hardwood counterparts in huanghuali and zitan, relatively few examples of bamboo furniture have survived. The material is less durable than hardwoods, and abundant enough that replacements could be easily made. To make a piece of furniture in bamboo, lengths of bamboo were steamed and softened until pliable and bent around a frame. This construction technique inspired examples in huanghuali seen in wraparound stretchers, round legs, circular struts, members carved to imitate nodes of bamboo, and continuous arms. A pair of huanghuali bamboo-form continuous horseshoe-back armchairs sold at Christie’s New York, The Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Part I: Masterworks, 17 March 2015, lot 47 is one of the finest examples of this type (Fig. 1). For a more in depth discussion of the influence of bamboo furniture design, see Ronald W. Longsdorf, “Chinese Bamboo Furniture: its history and influence on hardwood furniture design,” Orientations, January 1994, p. 76-83.

Since the Tang dynasty, so-called spotted bamboo, with its naturally occurring dark spots, has been highly sought after for the beauty of the random coloring and patterning of the markings. These subtle and painterly markings occur under specific growing conditions, difficult to replicate and found only in nature, thus making spotted bamboo more rare than other varieties. By the Ming dynasty, this type of spotted, or speckled, bamboo was being used for furnishings of various types and this continued in the early Qing period when furniture and other furnishings made of spotted bamboo were popular and considered at the height of fashion in the Imperial palace.

A series of twelve court paintings, entitled Twelve Beauties in the Yuanmingyuan, now in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing and dating to the Kangxi period (1709-1723) depict twelve elegant ladies in their sumptuous Imperial apartments, their clothing is fashionable and the furnishings are sophisticated and textured. Three of the twelve paintings show interior spaces furnished with spotted bamboo furniture. From this series, Woman Looking at Antiquities shows a beautiful woman seated in a lowback spotted bamboo armchair. A second painting, Woman Holding a Gourd depicts a lithe woman dressed in gossamer blue robes leaning against a square table constructed in spotted bamboo and fitted with a black lacquer top. A large spotted bamboo, gilt decorated lacquer kang table, dating to the Qing period (1664-1911), in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing and illustrated The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, vol. 54, Hong Kong, p. 166, pl. 148 may have served as the inspiration for the table seen in the painting Woman Holding a Gourd.
Amorous Meeting in a Room Interior, in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington D.C., is an early 19th century Imperial portrait of the young Daoguang emperor (r. 1820-1850), shown seated in an beautifully proportioned spotted bamboo chair with stepped, openwork arms and demonstrates the enduring fascination with spotted bamboo and the Imperial court (Fig. 2).
The simple frame is constructed from long lengths of bamboo, the back and sides are comprised of alternating geometric panels reminiscent of the openwork arms seen in Amorous Meeting in a Room Interior. It is unusual to find a piece of spotted bamboo furniture of this massive scale. No other example of this massive size or exceptional detail appears to be published.

Christie's. The Exceptional Sale, 1 february 2024