AN IMPORTANT HARDSTONE-INLAID HUANGHUALI TAPERED SLOPING-STILE CABINET Kangxi period

AN IMPORTANT HARDSTONE-INLAID HUANGHUALI TAPERED SLOPING-STILE CABINET
Kangxi period
The tall two-door cabinet of very slightly tapered form, the vertical frame extending to form tall feet with an ogival shaped apron on all four sides, the doors inset with two vertical panels with beaded edges, each door inset in various hardstones with magnificent depictions of birds amidst tree branches and above delicately carved depictions of chrysanthemum and peony and other flowers and rockwork, the two narrow sides of the cabinet are further inlaid, within circular and rectangular thinly-inlaid frames, with differing bird and floral scenes, the back and the top of the cabinet also constructed with plain huanghuali panels, four plain rectangular metal hinges and two-piece lock plates to the doors, the interior with a single shelf above two drawers, also using huanghuali panels, and with simple metal handles.
50 3/4in high x 32 1/2in across feet x 32 1/16in across the top x 19 3/4in deep (129cm tall x 82.5cm across feet x 81.9cm across the top x 50.2cm)
Footnotes:
康熙時期 黃花梨百寶嵌花鳥圖方角櫃

One of the outstanding features of this remarkable cabinet is the use of an inlay that is raised above the flat surface of the wood plane (bolection), known as baibao qian (One-hundred-precious-material inlay), which adds an unusual three-dimensionality to the exterior. This type of inlay can be compared with imperial furniture currently housed in the Beijing Palace Museum. During the late Ming Dynasty, the city of Yangzhou in Jiangsu province was famous for its baibao qian inlay lacquer work, particularly noteworthy was the style associated with the workshop of Zhou Zhu, a craftsman active during the Jiajing reign (1522-1566). His work was named Zhou qian (Zhou inlay) or Zhou zhi (Zhou works), see Qian Yong, Luyuan congzhi (Collected records from the Garden to Walk in) where it is noted that in the Ming dynasty a man named Zhou first devised this method that uses gold and silver, precious stones, pearls, raw copper, turquoise, mother of pearl, amber, and aloes wood to carve landscapes, human figures, trees, flowers, plants, birds and animals which are inlaid into sandalwood, huanghuali, and lacquerware. Large pieces include screens, tables, chairs, window frames and bookcases. This kind of work circulated rather widely during the late Ming and early Qing. Although the Beijing Palace Museum now houses furniture of the same form and style, all of which are fine quality. A related black lacquer cabinet inlaid with hardstones depicting 'One Hundred Boys' from the Palace Museum in Beijing is illustrated in Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 113, no. 173, and another related example is a huanghuali two-sectioned cabinet also in the Palace Museum Collection in Beijing, inlaid with hardstone depicting foreigners and mythical beasts, illustrated, ibid. no. 174.

See also another inlaid lacquer cabinet of this type in the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection of a sloping-stile, illustrated by Robert Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: The Hung Collection, vol. I, New York, 1996, cat. no. 78. See also two other examples illustrated by Michel Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture, Tokyo, 1979, p. 121, one of a black lacquer inlaid cabinet with flowers and birds from the C.T. Loo Collection and p. 119 in the Musée Guimet of an inlaid cabinet depicting a landscape.
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