MING DYNASTY, LATE 16TH / EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF HUANGHUALI RECTANGULAR STOOLS
MING DYNASTY, LATE 16TH / EARLY 17TH CENTURY
Each has a mat seat set into a rectangular frame above plain aprons and spandrels. The whole is raised on round legs with square inner face joined by pairs of stretchers at the short sides and a single stretcher at the long sides. The underside of each seat with two transverse braces connected with a bridge-shaped piece of wood.
20 1/4 in. (51.5 cm.) high, 21 1/16 in. (53.5 cm.) wide, 17 1/4 in. (44 cm.) wide

Provenance

Grace Wu Bruce, Hong Kong
Chung Wah Pui, Hong Kong

Literature

Grace Wu Bruce, Two Decades of Ming Furniture, Beijing, 2010, p.155

Exhibited

The Radiant Ming, 1368-1644 Through the Min Chiu Society Collection, Hong Kong, 2015, cat. pp. 288-289, no. 222

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory, tortoiseshell and crocodile. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Further details

Please note these lots incorporate material from endangered species which could result in export restrictions. You should check the relevant customs laws and regulations before bidding on this lot if you plan to import the lot into another country. Please refer to Christie’s Conditions of Sale.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The current pair of stools are fashioned from thick timbers that are strong in both construction and appearance. There are two transverse braces on the underside with an additional rectangular support in the center. It is suggested by Sarah Handler in Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 2001, p.91, that the stools with this overbuilding construction feature are an early hardwood pieces copying even earlier softwood construction.

Compare to two pairs of huanghuali stools of the same form and also have the curved transverse braces with wood bridge on the underside, one formerly in the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, sold at Christie’s New York, 19 September 1996, lot 15, the other formerly in the Wang Shixiang collection, now in the Shanghai Museum collection, see Wang Shixiang, Mingshi jiaju zhenshang, Hong Kong, 1985, p. 58.

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