1. Pair of square stools
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 17th century
          W 54.8 cm    D 54.5 cm    H 46.7 cm

  * 2. Horseshoe armchair    
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 60.3 cm   D 46.8 cm   H 99.7 cm

     3. Continuous yoke back armchair
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 54.8 cm  D 44 cm   H 115.3 cm

  * 4. Pair of continuous yoke back armchairs
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 57.8 cm    D 44.8 cm    H 100.7 cm

  * 5. Pair of large horseshoe armchairs                                            
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 61.6 cm   D 47.6 cm   H 102 cm

  * 6. Kang table             
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 93.5 cm  D 58.9 cm  H 30.5 cm 

     7. Kang table with leaf-and-ball feet
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 101 cm     D 65 cm   H 30 cm 

  * 8. Small square stand    
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 17th century
          W 58 cm     D 57.7 cm  H 82.5 cm

     9. Small pingtouan side table    
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 78.9 cm   D 42.5 cm    H 77.1 cm

* 10. Side table                       
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 99.8 cm  D 62.5 cm  H 87 cm 

   11. Banzhuo side table                
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 102.3 cm   D 52.1 cm   H 87.7 cm

* 12. Pingtouan table with cloud-shaped spandrels                 
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 144.4 cm     D 45 cm   H 85.3 cm

* 13. Pingtouan table                                          
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 184 cm   D 56 cm   H 83.2 cm

* 14. Long side table                    
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 208.5 cm     D 57.2 cm   H 88.4 cm

* 15. Qiaotouan table
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 230.6 cm   D 48 cm   H 80.2 cm

* 16. Small sloping-stile wood-hinged cabinet  
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 71.6 cm  D 39.7 cm  H 109.5 cm

   17. Small sloping-stile wood-hinged cabinet    
          Huanghuali and burl wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W  74.8 cm  D  40.6 cm  H  109.1 cm

* 18. Large sloping-stile wood-hinged cabinet  
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th century
          W 90.1 cm  D 49.5 cm  H 179.8 cm

* 19. Three-drawer coffer
          Huanghuali wood, Chinese, 16th - 17th Century
          W 190.2 cm   D 51.2 cm    H 85.4 cm

Continuous yoke back armchair is a classic type of Ming chairs. Completely plain, the only decoration on these examples being the beaded-edge of the aprons underneath the seat.

Compare this to the very similar examples in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (Clunas, 21).

The round top rail is pipe-joined to the stiles which continue through the seat to become the legs. The C-shaped back splat is tongue-and-grooved into the underside of the top rail and the back member of the seat frame. The elongated S-shaped arms, mortised and tenoned into the stiles and pipe-joined to the posts are supported by tapering S braces of circular sections. The round front posts like the stiles, also pass through the seat to become the legs. The mitred, mortised and tenoned seat frame with exposed tenons on the short sides has two transverse braces underneath. The edge of the frame is rounded and it was drilled for soft seat construction and is now restored with old matting. Below the seat is a beaded-edged, curvilinear shaped apron butt-joined to the underside of the seat, tongue-and-grooved to the legs and mortised and tenoned to the footrest. The side aprons and the back one is plain and high. The legs are joined by a shaped foot rail in front, rectangular stretchers on the sides and the back. There are plain shaped aprons beneath the footrest and side stretchers.

Clunas, Craig, Chinese Furniture, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1988.

This table without a waist, is a variation of the classic Ming Design, seen already in wall murals of the Jin and Yuan dynasties (1115 - 1368) and is hailed by furniture historians to be an all time classic. The flat surfaces of the piece result in a very geometric and contemporary appearance.

Tables of this design are usually of small sizes in surviving examples dated to the classic period and large, long examples like the present piece are rare. Compare this to the classic and much smaller examples in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Clunas 48), and the collection of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts, Bejing. (Chen 35)

The top of standard mitre, mortise and tenon frame construction with a well-figured single board flush, tongue-and-grooved floating-panel supported by five dovetailed transverse stretchers underneath. The edge of the frame is flat as is the plain straight apron which is very slightly recessed from the top and is mitred, mortised and tenoned into and half-lapped onto the legs which double-lock tenoned to the mitred frame and terminate in well drawn hoof feet. Below the aprons are hump-back shaped stretchers mortised and tenoned but not mitred into the legs, also with flat surfaces.

Chen, Zengbi, Zhongyang Gongyi Meishu Xueyuan Yuancang: Zhenpin Tulu, dier ji, Mingshi Jiaju, Central Academy of Arts and Crafts: Illustrations of collections, volume 2, Ming Furniture Beijing, 1994.
Clunas, Craig, Chinese Furniture, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1988.

One of the three main types of Ming chairs, the horseshoe shape design is uniquely Chinese and have inspired various twentieth century furniture designers to create well-known modern examples.

The ranking of chairs in the Ming period was hierarchical with large size chairs being deemed more important seats reserved for the master of the house and senior guests.

Compare these with the very similar example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Clunas, 25).

Provenance
L B MacBain collection, London.

The arm of five sections, joined by overlapping pressure-pegged scarf joins, begins and ends in gently returning knobs. The plain S-curved back splat is tongue-and-grooved into the underside of the horseshoe arm and the back member of the seat frame. The stiles and posts are tenoned into the horseshoe shaped arm and pass through the seat frame to become the legs. Small shaped spandrels are tongue-and-grooved into the posts and the underside of the arm. There are tapering S-shaped braces supporting the arm. The seat frame, of mitred, mortised and tenoned construction with exposed tenons on the short rails has two transverse stretchers underneath. The edge of the frame is gently curved and ends in a narrow flat band. It was drilled for soft seat construction and has been restored with old mat. The shaped, beaded-edged front apron is butt-jointed to the underside of the seat frame, tongue-and-grooved to the legs and tenoned into the footrest. The side aprons are similarly shaped while the one in the back is plain and high. The legs are joined in front by a shaped footrest and on the sides and back, stretchers of square section with rounded outside edges, all with exposed tenons. There are plain shaped aprons below the footrest and the side stretchers.

Clunas, Craig, Chinese Furniture, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1988.

This piece, with similar construction to eight, six and four immortals' tables but smaller, is probably a stand for the display of a rock sculpture, fragrant penzai miniature plant, flower vase or an incense burner (Gao 547).

Compare this to the very similar example exhibited in “Feast by a wine table reclining on a couch”, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. (Wu Bruce, 59)

Of standard mitre, mortise and tenon frame and flush, tongue end grooved, zhajingmu floating panel construction. The tenons are exposed on the short rails of the frame top and there are two dovetailed transverse braces underneath, both with exposed tenons. The edge of the frame is decorated with a groove and moulds downward and inward to end in a narrow band. The recessed waist and the plain straight apron, made of one piece of wood, is mitred, mortised and tenoned into and half lapped onto the legs, which are double lock tenoned to the mitred frame and terminate in well drawn hoof feet. Below the aprons are humpback shaped stretchers, mortised and tenoned into the legs.

Gao Lian, Zunsheng Bajian, (Eight Discourses on the Art of Living), compiled in 1591, Bashu Chubanshe, Chengdu, 1988.
Wu Bruce, Grace, Feast by a wine table reclining on a couch: The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture III, Hong Kong, 2007.

The classic pingtouan design with splayed and recessed legs takes its influence from ancient architecture in wood. The present piece with cloud-shaped spandrels is a variation from the standard type with ear-shaped spandrels.

An almost identical table is illustrated by Wang Shixiang in Classic Chinese Furniture (Wang 170), now in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, China (Shanghai Museum 9).

Of mitre, mortise and tenon frame construction with a two-board tongue-and-grooved, flush floating panel supported by four dovetailed transverse stretchers underneath. There are exposed tenons on the short sides of the frame top. The edge of the frame is flat and then moulds gently inward to end in a narrow flat band. The splayed oval legs are cut to house the beaded-edged cloud-shaped, spandrelled apron and are double tenoned to the underside of the top. Between the legs at each end are two oval section stretchers, flattened on the underside.

Shanghai Museum, Chinese Ming and Qing Furniture Gallery, Shanghai, 1996.
Wang, Shixiang, Classic Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, London, 1986.

Qiaotouan tables with everted ends and recessed legs belong to a classic type in Ming furniture design. The exquisite openwork motif of C-shapes forming heart-like shapes mortised and tenoned together is seen on railings of canopy beds while the beautiful openwork floral and leaf-shaped spandrels are reminiscent of the aprons found in kang tables with ball and leaf feet. These motifs rendered on a qiaotouan table is unique in published examples to date.

Compare this to other qiaotouan tables in the collection of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts (Chen 48) and that in the Cleveland Museum of Art (Ellsworth plate 58).

Provenance
Private Collection, New York.

Published
Grace Wu Bruce, Ming Furniture, Selections from Hong Kong & London Gallery, Hong Kong, 2000, page 19.

The well-figured top ends in small shaped everted flanges which are inset into the top extending down to conceal the end grains and are made of the same piece of wood as the breadboard mitred end members. The one centimetre thick top plank is joined at forty-five degree mitred angle to the two long five centimetre thick frame members and seven transverse stretchers are mortised and tenoned to these frame members and dovetailed to the underside of the plank top. The edges of the frame members are moulded and end in a beaded edge with a groove. The rectangular legs, moulded on the edges, are cut to house the beaded-edged, shaped aprons with carved openwork floral and leaf-shaped spandrels and are tenoned to the underside of the top and shoe type feet below. A panel carved with openwork heart shapes mortised and tenoned together is inset into the space between the legs, the shoe type feet and the rectangular stretcher above.

Chen, Zengbi, Zhongyang Gongyi Meishu Xueyuan Yuancang: Zhenpin Tulu, dier ji, Mingshi Jiaju, Central Academy of Arts and Crafts: Illustrations of collections, volume 2, Ming Furniture, Beijing, 1994.
Ellsworth, Robert Hatfield, Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ching Dynasties, New York, 1971.

Kang table is a classic type of Ming tables, suitable for use at mat level or on the kang, a hollow brick platform where hot air is driven through to create a warm living space.

Compare this to a very similar example in the Lu Ming Shi collection (Wu Bruce 151) and another one of similar design in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City. (Sickman plate 5b)

The lip-edged top of standard mitre, mortise and tenon frame construction with a two board tongue-and-grooved flush, floating panel supported by three dovetailed transverse stretchers underneath, two with exposed tenons. The edge of the frame is curved and ends in a narrow flat band. There are exposed tenons on the short sides of the mitred frame. The recessed waist and the curvilinear, beaded-edged apron, made of one piece of wood, are mitred, mortised, tenoned and half-lapped to the legs. The beaded-edge continues down the cabriole legs which terminate in shaped carved feet.

Sickman, Laurence, Chinese Classic Furniture, a lecture given by Laurence Sickman on the Occasion of the third presentation of the Hills Gold Medal, London: The Oriental Ceramic Society, 1978.
Wu Bruce, Grace, Living with Ming – the Lu Ming Shi Collection, Wu Bruce, Hong Kong, 2000.

One of the most ingenious and beautiful designs of classic Chinese furniture is the sloping-stile, wood-hinged cabinet. The four main stiles are recessed from the corner of the top and slope gently outward in a subtle, almost imperceptible splay, This simple design feature gives the cabinet its refined elegance and a sense of balance and stability.
The doors, with extended dowels on both ends, fit into sockets in the cabinet frame members and act as hinges. Free from the necessity of applied hinges, the clean lines of the cabinet are not interfered with.

Compare this to the examples in the Boston Museum exhibition “Beyond the Screen”, published in the catalogue. (Berliner 143, 145,)

Published
Grace Wu Bruce, Ming Furniture: rare examples from the 16th and 17th centuries, London Exhibition, Hong Kong, 1999, page 39.

The top of standard mitre, mortise and tenon, tongue-and-grooved floating panel construction with two dovetailed underneath transverse braces. There are exposed tenons on the short sides of the frame. The edge of the frame is curved and begins and ends in a very narrow flat band. The four main stiles, double tenoned into the top with the long tenon exposed, are rounded on the outside and squared on the inside and end in a flat narrow banded edge where they meet the doors and side panels. The doors, on either side of the removable central stile, are of standard mitred frame construction with flat banded edges except for the outside stile which are moulded and finish on extended dowels which fit into sockets in the underside of the frame top and the horizontal shaped stretcher mortised and tenoned into the main stiles below the doors. The two-board floating panels has four dovetailed transverse braces tenoned into the door frame. Inside the cabinet there is a removable shelf which rest on the dovetailed transverse braces of the side panels and a central section with two drawers and a shelf, made of tierli. Beneath the shaped stretcher below the doors is a small panel tongue-and-grooved to it, the stiles and another horizontal stretcher below. There is an apron, tongue-and-grooved into the legs and butt-jointed to the underside of the stretcher. There are similar aprons on the sides. Three baitong plates are curved to fit the door frame members and the central stile. There are three square lock receptacles and shaped door pulls.

Berliner, Nancy, Beyond the Screen: Chinese Furniture of the 16th and 17th centuries, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 1996.