A TALL HUANGHUALI HEXAGONAL BRAZIER STAND, HUOPENJIA

17TH CENTURY

Details

A TALL HUANGHUALI HEXAGONAL BRAZIER STAND, HUOPENJIA
17th century
The tall hexagonal form of unusual design, the six-piece top with a large circular opening and rounded edge above a high recessed waist carved with stylized confronted dragons with slightly squared tails, and a curvilinear apron carved with naturalistic confronted dragons, separated by the meandering interlocking tendrils of the wide beaded edge of the apron, joining the elephant heads and the top of the cabriole legs, the elephant trunks running the length of the slender legs and playfully upturned at the feet on a hexagonal ring foot supported on six corner pads
33½in. (85cm.) high, 44½in. (113.1cm.) wide, 39in. (99cm.) deep

Literature

Grace Wu Bruce, Dreams of Chu Tan Chamber and Romance with Huanghuali Wood: The Dr. S Y Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1991, pp. 102-103, cat. 38.
The Oriental Ceramics Society of Hong Kong 25th Anniversary Exhibition: Passion of Collecting, University Museum of Art, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 102-103, cat. 38.

Exhibited

Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 20 September-24 November, 1991.
University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong, 1999.
National Heritage Board, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, 1996-1999.

Further details

See detail one preceeding page

Lot Essay

Large brazier stands could be used indoors or in the garden for warming and making tea. See Grace W. Bruce, Chan Chair and Qin Bench: The Dr. S Y Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture II, p. 29, fig. 17, for a wood block illustration dated 1606 showing such a stand being used to concoct the elixir of life in a Daoist ritual, and a desciption of such on p. 37, no. 5.

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