A RARE PAIR OF LARGE HUANGHUALI SQUARE STOOLS, FANGDENG
17th/18th centuryEach with a square frame enclosing a hard-mat seat with double reeded aprons wrapping completely around the exterior of the piece to simulate bamboo, the wrap-around stretchers joined to the apron by two pairs of interlocked-ring struts on each side, all supported on four legs of circular section. 62.9cm (24 6/8in) square x 48.3cm (19in) high. (2).
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十七/十八世紀 黃花梨直足裹腿方凳成對Provenance: an American family collection, acquired in Beijing before 1945Sotheby's New York, 15 September 2015, lot 168An important European private collection來源:美國家族私人舊藏,1945年前購於北京紐約蘇富比,2015年9月15日,拍品編號168歐洲重要私人收藏Distinguished by their simple elegance and the refined geometry of their design, complemented with interlocking circular braces, the present stools are a rare and remarkable example of their particular type. Corner-leg stools were highly popular during the Ming dynasty. They were stable and durable due to their apron and waist carved from a single piece of wood. The form of the present pair of stools suited them well to a variety of settings, due to their simple yet sturdy shape, and examples exist with both soft and hard-mat seats, with and without stretchers, and with and without carved surface decoration.Stools have a long history in China, with the earliest examples depicted on a ritual vessel of the Eastern Zhou period (770-221 BC). In later times, stools were variously used as seats for Buddhist deities and high-ranking members of society. Their relatively small size made these seats perfectly adaptable to being moved from indoors to outdoors, where they often served as both seats and small tables during scholarly gatherings. For a discussion about the evolution of stools in China, see S.Handler, The Austere Luminosity of Classical Chinese Furniture, Berkeley and London, 2001, pp.82-102. The combination of interlocking-ring braces decorating the present stools may have been inspired by earlier furniture designs. An altar table excavated from an underground chamber of a pagoda in Yuegezhuang, Fangshan, dating to circa 1110 AD, displays a similar combination of vertical struts and interlocking braces to the present stools; see Wang Shixiang, 'Development of Furniture Design and Construction from the Song to the Ming', in Chinese Furniture. Selected Articles from Orientations 1984-1999, Hong Kong, 1999, pp.42-55. A pair of similar stools, early Qing dynasty, is illustrated by Wang Shixang in Classic Chinese Furniture; Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, London, 1986, vol.2, p.21, no.A11.Compare with a pair of huanghuali stools of similar shape, 17th/18th century, illustrated by R.H.Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, New York, 1970, pl.114. A related pair of huanghuali stools, 18th century, was sold at Sotheby's New York, 23 March 2011, lot 676.方凳成對,攢框裝硬屜,邊抹混面,採用「垛邊」的造法,飽滿渾圓。腿足亦用圓材,羅鍋棖用裹腿做。每面棖上兩根矮老,中間安雙環卡子花。圓裹腿的黃花梨杌凳,又被追溯為仿竹製傢俱,邊抹腿足均為弧面,圓潤清新。裹腿是比較考究的製作工藝,垛邊的造法增加了邊抹的厚度,既加固了穩定性,又在與裹腿相呼應的同時避免了厚重之感,顯得輕盈而精巧。棖上加裝矮老和卡子花,以代牙條。據考證,矮老早在遼金時期就已出現;建於約1110年的房山岳各莊遼塔中發現一例供案,就已使用矮老。至明代已成為一種常用構件,或代之以各式卡子花,即裝飾化的矮老,俊俏疏透,不落繁俗。見王世襄著,〈Development of Furniture Design and Construction from the Song to the Ming〉,收錄於《Chinese Furniture: Selected Articles from Orientations 1984-1999》,香港,1999年,頁42-55。參考一對清早期直足裹腿方凳,收錄於王世襄著,《明式家具珍賞》,倫敦,1986年,卷二,頁21,編號A11;以及一對十七至十八世紀黃花梨方凳,收錄於安思遠著,《Chinese Furniture》,紐約,1970年,圖版114。一對十八世紀黃花梨直足裹腿方凳,售於紐約蘇富比,2011年3月23日,拍品編號676,可資參考。
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