Lot 1. An Imperial white marble drum stool, China, 17th century ; 45.5 cm high, 49 cm diameter. Price realised GBP 60,960 (Estimate GBP 30,000 – GBP 50,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2026

Provenance: Private Collection, Asia, 2010.

MD Flacks Ltd., New York, 2012.

J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 2019.

Note: Marble furniture played an integral role in traditional Chinese architecture and garden design. Sculptural and durable, marble furniture graced gardens and courtyards and replaced wood furniture that would have had to have been moved outside for gatherings. A Ming-dynasty woodblock illustration of A Dream of Cherries captures the elegant effect of stone furniture within a landscaped terraced garden. Central to the image are a set of four stone stools, accurately detailed with carved bosses encircling the rims, set around an oversized stone table upon which sits several gaming boards. Stone furniture supported the cultivated lifestyle of leisure activities embraced by the Ming elite.

This extraordinary and boldly carved stool is not only impressive for its massive size but also for the finesse and depth of carving. Carved with protruding handles on either side, formed as fierce demon-masks with long horns, the stools are further carved with octofoil cartouches enclosing two writhing dragons, all set against a ground of dense, intertwined foliate scroll. The top is carved in low relief with a geometric pattern that simulates the sumptuous brocaded textiles of the time, which were sometimes placed on stone furniture to add comfort and warmth. An identical pair of white marble stools was sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2023, lot 1144.

Lot 10. A rare pair of white marble barrel-form stools, China, 17th century ; 39.1 cm and 39.3 cm high, 35 cm diameter. Price realised GBP 15,240 (Estimate GBP 15,000 – GBP 25,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2026

Provenance: MD Flacks Ltd., New York, 2008.
Collection of Ronald Warren Longsdorf, Columbus, Ohio, 2008.

Note: The pair of stools are modeled after a drum, with the rows of raised bosses at the top and bottom imitating the nail heads that would have secured the leather taut on the drum. The present pair in marble reference their more commonly seen counterparts in huanghuali or hongmu, such as a burl-inlaid huanghuali stool illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, p. 76, no. 61.

A pair of white marble ‘drum’ stools dated to the 17th century of similar height and carved with four large oval openings on the sides, was sold at Christie’s New York, 16 September 2016, lot 1136.

Christie's. The Flacks Family Collection II: Curtain Call, London, 12 May 2026