A RARE PAIR OF CHINESE HUANGHUALI ROUND-CORNER TAPERED CABINET, YUANJIAOGUI , Prob Ming Dynasty or Early Qing, With single-panel top set within the beaded, overhanging, rounded frame, above attractively figured single panels on the sides, and also set within elegantly shaped and beaded door frames, opening from the removable center stile to reveal the interior with three shelves, all raised on thick, beaded legs of rounded section flanking plain, shaped aprons on the front and sides. Showing smooth and lustrous patina, dense wood, several "ghost face" on all over surfaces. The round-corner tapered cabinet, or yuanjiaogui,, is one of the most beautiful and elegant designs in all of classical Chinese furniture. The present cabinet, with its simple lines, represents one of the most popular and successful forms in Chinese furniture construction, and was widely used in cabinet making throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Dimension: 59-1/4" H x 31-1/2 L x 15" D


Lot Notes:

Several similar examples of this type are known. Compare the larger (47 5/16 in. high) HuangHuaLi round-corner tapered cabinet in the collection of The Minneapolis Institute of Arts illustrated by Robert D. Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley in Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, 1999, pp. 150-51, no. 52, where the authors note that "round-corner, sloping style cabinets (yuanjiaogui) were made in sizes ranging from those suitable for table tops to more imposing storage furniture over seven feet in height." Compare, also, the cabinet illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, vol. II, Hong Kong, 1990, no. D22. Another pair of HuangHuaLi tapered cabinets, although lacking center stiles, is illustrated by Robert H. Ellsworth in Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, pp. 192-93, no. 75, where they are dated to the early 17th century. See, also, the larger (48 7/8 in. high) HuangHuaLi round-corner tapered cabinet, sold at Christie's, Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2015, also of shelved interior and removable center stile but which differs from the present cabinet in the shape of the front and side aprons.