A 'tielimu' four-poster canopy bed (Jiazichuang), Qing dynasty, 18th century | 清十八世紀鐵力木套方紋圍子四柱架子床

UK: Greenford Park Warehouse

Auction Closed

November 1, 04:48 PM GMT

Estimate

60,000 - 80,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property from a Private Collection

私人收藏

A 'tielimu' four-poster canopy bed (Jiazichuang)

Qing dynasty, 18th century

清十八世紀鐵力木套方紋圍子四柱架子床

231 by 141 by 212.5 cm, 91 by 55 1/2 by 83 5/8 in.

Chan Shing Kee, Hong Kong, April 2015.

陳勝記，香港，2015年4月

Four-poster canopy beds in huanghuali are extremely rare. In contrast to the more commonly encountered six-poster type, these four-poste beds were likely designed specifically for a man's apartment, epitomising an elegance and simplicity that eschews extravagant adornments, according to an early Ming guide to stylish living, Zhang wu zhi [Treatise on Superfluous Things], written by the scholar and artist, Wen Zhenheng (1585 - 1645). The unique interlocked square patterns decorated on the present lot renders it even more exceptional as Sarah Handler suggests that they symbolise eternal unity and marital harmony. (‘A Little World Made Cunningly: The Chinese Canopy Bed’, Journal of The Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Spring 1992, p. 11, fig. 9.) A woodblock picture dated to 1640 offers a glimpse of the usage of a four-poster canopy bed in Ming context, illustrated in Sarah Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkley, 2001, p. 145, although very few other examples are documented.

Compare a drawing of a four-poster bed with interlocked circular braces on the upper part of the railing, illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Connoiseurship of Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1990, vol. II, p. 134, C15; A related example, but decorated with interlocked hoops, illustrated in Gustav Ecke, Chinese Domestic Furniture, Hong Kong, 1978, pl. 25. Compare also several related examples sold in the auctions, one with four slightly tapered legs and undulating flanges, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th April 2015, lot 2867; one with four straight legs, sold at Christie's New York, 16th September 1999, lot 79, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th May 2012, lot 4075; and a third bed, sold at Christie’s New York, 16th September 1998, lot 81. For six-poster examples, see one illustrated in George N. Kates, Chinese Household Furniture, New York, 1948, pl. 68; one exhibited in Beyond the Screen. Chinese Furniture of the 16th and 17th Centuries, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1996, cat. no. 16.

A 'tielimu' four-poster canopy bed (Jiazichuang), Qing dynasty, 18th century | 清十八世紀 鐵力木套方紋圍子四柱架子床

A 'tielimu' four-poster canopy bed (Jiazichuang), Qing dynasty, 18th century | 清十八世紀鐵力木套方紋圍子四柱架子床