Sumptuously carved in openwork with sinuous chilong writhing around auspicious motifs, this magnificent canopy bed is a display of 17th century aristocratic splendour. Employed in the inner quarters by both men and women, beds were the focal point of the household, and six-post canopy beds were most luxurious and impressive type of bed that one could own.

This bed is discussed by the furniture scholar Wang Shixiang in Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, 1995, p. 22, where he identifies a group of canopy beds exquisitely carved with closely related designs and suggests they were all produced at the same workshop in northern China. Two of these beds are illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 2, the first at the Great Mosque of Xi’an, and the second in the Palace Museum, Beijing. A further closely related bed was included in the exhibition Beyond the Screen, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2000, cat. no. 16; and two were sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3rd December 2008, lot 2532, and 30th November 2011, lot 3075.

While used by both men and women, canopy beds were the most used pieces of furniture in women’s apartments. 17th century households that adhered to Confucian norms confined women to the inner courtyards of a family compound, away from the front of the house where important male visitors were received and official functions took place. Bedrooms were informal rooms where women spent many of their waking hours, thus their furnishing, especially the bed, were important status symbols, indicating their position within the family.

During daytime, canopy beds were used as seats for informal leisure: a long table and footstool were placed in front of the bed for comfortably reading or eating. A few stools and chairs could be arranged around the bed for an informal gathering. At night, curtains were hanged within the bedframe to protect from drafts, mosquitoes as well as prying eyes. These curtains were carefully chosen as their colour and patterns emphasised the intricate openwork carving of the bedrail. The 17th century scholar Wen Zhenheng in his influential Chang wu zhi [Treaties on Superfluous Things], discusses which fabrics should be used on canopy beds: “Bed curtains for the winter months should be of pongee silk or of thick cotton with purple patterns. Curtains of paper or of plain-weave, spun-silk cloth are both vulgar, while gold brocaded silk curtains and those of bo silk are for the women’s quarters”.

Most importantly, beds were the place where children were conceived and their decoration is often filled with auspicious omens that reflect this function. On this bed sinuous chilong, young hornless dragons, dominate the design and represent the aspiration of conceiving meritorious sons. Auspicious clouds, rocks and lingzhi, and shou (longevity) characters were believed to bring blessings and good luck to those within. Designs on beds could also be indicative of a person’s social status. Wang Shixiang, op. cit., suggests that the motif on this bed of a qilin with his head turned backwards facing the sun, first found on Qing rank badges, could indicate that the bed once belonged to the wife of an early Qing official.

Six-post canopy beds are essentially a room within a room as their design aesthetic principles of Chinese classical architecture. Their six-post construction mimics three-bay buildings such as pavilions, where the roof is supported by posts and the lack of walls merges outdoor and inner space. The sophisticated openwork railings recall a building’s balustrade, which have the dual function of creating interest through their decoration and increasing stability. In addition, the upper panels under the canopy roof are carved to allow air circulation as the panels under the eaves of buildings.

The canopy bed has a long history in China, with the earliest example dating to the fourth century BC. A sophisticated wooden bed frames (chuang) was discovered at a tomb in Xinyang, Henan province, attributed to a ruler of the southern kingdom of Chu. These early beds were likely used with a canopy frame, such as the one excavated from the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) tomb of Prince Liu Sheng, in Mancheng, Hebei province. While the earliest surviving canopy bed dates to the 16th century, this type bed is often found illustrated in paintings. See for example the bed depicted in Gu Kaizhi’s (c. 344-406) handscroll Nushi zhen tu (The Admonitions of the court instructress), in the British Museum, London, accession no. 1903,0408,0.1; and the bed visible on the famous 10th century handscroll Han Xizai yeyan tu (The Night Revels of Han Xizai), attributed to Gu Hongzhong, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in the catalogue to the exhibition Masterpieces of Chinese Paintings 700-1900, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2013, fig. 4.

架子床魁偉碩麗，作螭龍蜿蜒迴繞，透雕精美，紋飾祥瑞，可想見十七世紀顯貴起居之態。床榻設於內室，於家宅生活不可或缺，六柱圍子架子床則為床中之最，華貴雍容，無出其右。 王世襄曾論及此床，見《明式家具萃珍》，1995年，頁22，著中一組架子床，雕工細緻，紋飾相仿，可知為北方同一工坊所造，其中有二，載於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集．明清家具（上）》，香港，2002年，圖版2，分別由西安大清真寺及北京故宮博物院所藏。另一類例，曾展於《屏居佳器》，波士頓美術館，2000年，編號16；香港佳士得亦售出二例，2008年12月3日，編號2532，及2011年11月30日，編號3075。

架子床與女子閨閣尤密不可分。十七世紀，儒風盛行，府邸廳堂多作會見男賓、操持要務之用，婦女一概簡出，只深居內宅。一家之中，女眷常於臥房度日，房中家具陳設，尤其床榻，即是身份象徵，彰顯屋主家中地位。

日間，架子床可供消閒：床前置條桌、腳凳，以便閱讀、飲食，圍床設椅凳，又宜閨中小聚。夜裡，床架垂帳，既可擋風、防蚊，亦可保全私隱。床帳選配頗為考究，其顏色、花樣須映襯圍子透雕紋飾。明末學者文震亨著《長物志》曰：「冬月以繭綢由或紫花厚布為之，紙帳與綢絹等帳俱俗，錦帳、帛帳俱閨閣中物。」

床多施吉祥紋飾，寄望開枝散葉。此床主飾螭龍，祝頌子孫昌盛，又作祥雲、奇石、靈芝、壽字，福佑睡臥之人。架子床紋飾反映主人社會地位；前述出處，王世襄有論，門圍子雕麒麟回首望日，該紋飾初見於清代官徽，從而推知，此床原為清初一達官夫人所用。

六柱架子床可謂室內室、房中房，其營造美學與中式建築同源同理。六柱結構效仿亭樓，以柱支撐屋頂，無牆無壁，內外相通。透雕床圍子則如樓外雕欄，一來平添觀賞性，二來增加穩定性。此外，透雕門楣子可使空氣流通，與屋簷下之楣板異曲同工。

架子床源遠流長，最早雛形可溯至公元前四世紀。河南省信陽市有墓葬出土一木床，墓主人傳為楚王。早期床寢或已帶架子，可比一漢代例，河北省滿城縣中山靖王劉勝墓出土。存世架子床不過十六世紀造，然此類床寢早已有之，繪畫可證，見顧愷之（約344-406年）《女史箴圖》，現藏倫敦大英博物館，編號1903,0408,0.1；另見北京故宮博物院藏十世紀名畫顧閎中《韓熙載夜宴圖》長卷，錄於《Masterpieces of Chinese Paintings 700-1900》，維多利亞和阿爾伯特博物館，倫敦，2013年，圖4。

Past Auction

Monochrome II