A PAIR OF HUANGHUALI LAMP STANDS LATE MING / EARLY QING DYNASTY

each with two uprights joined by hump-back-shaped stretchers at the top with openings in the centre to accomodate the post of the lamp receptacle, the uprights mortised and tennoned into the shaped, solid base shoe-type feet carved with scrolling tendrils, flanked by tall spandrels carved with cloud scrolls and mortised and tennoned to the solid feet and the upright member, the base with two straight stretchers inset with an openwork panel carved with cloud scrolls, above a further shaped apron carved with stylised tendrils tongue-and-grooved at 45 degrees to the straight stretcher and the solid feet on both sides, the circular lamp receptacle supported by four openwork spandrels underneath, carved in the form of stylised dragons and mortised and tennoned into the post and the base of the circular lamp receptacle, the post socketed into a horizontal stretcher underneath, the underside fitted with two sliding metal bolts locking into holes drilled at the intervals on the insides of the uprights to adjust the height of the lamp post

Grace Wu Bruce, Dreams of Chu Tan Chamber and the Romance with Huanghuali Wood: The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, Art Gallery, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1991, cat. no. 56, pp. 142-143.
The Chinese Collections, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, 1997- 99.
Grace Wu Bruce, Grace Wu Bruce presents a choice selection of Ming Furniture from the Dr. S. Y. Yip collections, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong, 2012, pp. 26-27.

Grace Wu Bruce, Two Decades of Ming Furniture, Beijing, 2010, p. 259.
Grace Wu Bruce, Ming Furniture Through My Eyes, Beijing, 2015, p. 265.

General surface wear and insignificant bruises to the fragile extremities , as expected of Ming furniture preserved over the centuries in a domestic setting.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

"Lamp stands – pairs are as rare as shooting stars in the sky."

The Ming novel Jin ping mei [The Plum in the Golden Vase, or the Golden Lotus] illustrates a very similar lamp stand. Lamp stands were mostly made in pairs but became separated over time, so while there are single pieces in surviving examples, pairs are rare with only a small number of published examples known.

The present example is richly decorated with dragon spandrels at the lamp base and elaborately carved scrolling clouds and tendrils at the base panels, spandrels, aprons, and the solid feet.

The central post is extendable. Metal sliding bolts are installed in the cross stretcher; these would fit into sockets at different levels of the uprights of the stand to hold the post at the desired height. This mechanism is an improvement from the usual control method of a stop-gap wedge at the top of the stand in the opening where the post passes through.

Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, pp. 176-177 illustrates a similar pair but with chilong dragons motif, now in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, also published in Robert D. Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, pp. 168-169.

See Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ching Dynasties, New York, 1971, p. 227, pl. 142 for another pair in the author's collection, sold at Christie's New York, 18 March 2015, lot 104.