A rare set of four huanghuali and burlwood side chairs, Qing dynasty, 18th century

Sotheby's New York, 23rd September 1997, lot 462.

紐約蘇富比1997年9月23日，編號462

With a judicious use of materials, the current set of chairs exemplifies the restrained design and an appreciation for the inherent beauty of wood. Usually made in sets and positioned against walls until needed, this type of armless chair is often deemed less formal than armchairs. The use of these side chairs is depicted in Ming period book illustrations; see, for example, a chair of this type was placed against a large painted screen, illustrated in a Ming woodblock printed novel Lienu Zhuan (Biographies of Exemplary Women), Wanli edition, juan 8 – 17. 

During significant occasions, chairs of this type will be draped with patterned fabric runners, which not only improve their aesthetic but elevate their statues to accommodate esteemed guests. Such a situation is illustrated in a woodblock print Jin ping mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase), where a group of literati are seated in chairs of similar type, watching a performance during a banquet in the main hall, see Sarah Handler, Ming Furniture in the Light of Chinese Architecture, Berkeley, 2015, p. 51).

Although the side chair was more popular, few examples survived than armchairs, possibly due to their weaker construction. Compare a closely related side chair, illustrated in Karen Mazurkewich, Chinese Furniture. A Guide to Collecting Antiques, Rutland, 2006, fig. 497, p. 192; Compare also a slender rectangular-back side chair with a simple plain wood back, illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture. Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, vol. I, Hong Kong, 1990, pl. 1.11, p. 23; and a related chair, illustrated in Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Hardwood Furniture in Hawaiian Collection, Honolulu, 1982, pl. 36, p. 57.

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The Zi Zhen Tang Collection of Ming Huanghuali Furniture

Ms Lai, collector and owner of the Zi Zhen Tang Collection, is a renowned Taiwanese interior designer. Born into a fine family and raised in a Taiwanese residence filled with Chinese antiques collected by her father, Ms Lai’s formative years set the foundation for her appreciation of traditional Chinese art. In the early 1970s, Ms Lai studied at Tunghai University, a university celebrated for having the most beautiful campus in Asia with strong art and architecture departments. Though, following her father’s advice, she majored in economics, her passion for art and aesthetics propelled her to take on a minor in architecture. She then went to the United States to obtain a master’s degree in interior architecture design. She started her professional design career in Boston, and later worked in San Francisco, New York and Taiwan. Starting in the 1990s, she had projects for banks, corporate headquarters, and American five-star hotels. It is her exposure to the grace of arts during her upbringing and career that nurtured her pursuit of antiques. Between 1985 and 1990, her husband was transferred by JP Morgan from New York to Hong Kong, and it was during this period in Hong Kong that Ms Lai began her journey collecting Chinese antiques.

With China opening in the 1980s, the Chinese antique market boomed. Hong Kong became the major center where museums as well as Asian art specialists from all over the world came to acquire Chinese antiques. During the six years Ms Lai was in Hong Kong, she developed a taste for Chinese works of art. Beginning in 1985, she studied with the established painter Mo Yidian, and gained a deep appreciation of modern Chinese ink wash painting. Inspired by the elderly Mr Fan of the Min Chiu Society, she attended auctions of paintings and ceramics. She also befriended Susan Chen in Hong Kong, an acclaimed antique dealer originally from Taiwan, who introduced her to the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, where Ms Lai established a connoisseurship in Song and pre-historic ceramics.

In 1985, the very first book dedicated to the subject of Ming furniture was published by Wang Shixiang, with the Connoisseurship of Ming Style Furniture exhibition drew the attention of specialists and collectors to Ming furniture. During this time, many pieces of Ming furniture came to Hong Kong. Ms Lai often lingered around the Hollywood Road and Canton Road stores selling Ming and Qing furniture. Through her father, Ms Lai forged a long friendship with Mr and Mrs Ma of C. L. Ma Antique Ltd, and through them, she entered the world of Ming huanghuali furniture. In C. L. Ma Antique Ltd, she came to appreciate furniture that was transformed from piles of dark wood into stunning pieces that embodied the ingenuity of huanghuali artisanship. She found herself fond of the wood grain and rich warm wood tone of huanghuali, especially fascinated by the refined simplicity and modernity of the Ming style carpentry. Driven by her passion, Ms Lai travelled to hardwood factories in Beijing treasure hunting. In Beijing, she met Mr Jin, a senior architect who shared his anecdotes of collecting huanghuali and zitan furniture in the middle of the Cultural Revolution. These experiences paved the way for her collecting huanghuali furniture. Ms Lai started acquiring Ming furniture for furnishing her residence at Mid-Levels, always with a focus on using them. Because the Ming furniture pieces embodied antiquity and utility, having them at home allowed her to roam between the present and the past, as if to embrace centuries of China’s history and to converse with the ancients. This is how her collection of Ming huanghuali furniture began.

Ms Lai was fortunate to have encountered during her time in Hong Kong the ‘golden age’ of collecting Ming huanghuali furniture. Now at a retirement age, she accompanies her husband in travelling the world on holidays. In the spirit of enjoying a life free of material possessions, she has decided to find new caretakers for the huanghuali pieces that have accompanied her for over thirty years. As the saying goes, ‘what is preserved by me should be dispersed by me too’. Ms Lai looks forward to passing on her collection to collectors whose passion resonates with her love for Ming huanghuali furniture to safekeep her treasures.

此四具一堂靠背椅用料考究，彰顯黃花梨木簡雅內斂之美。靠背椅不設扶手，較圈椅更顯日常，多成組，非用時常依牆而置。明代插繪可尋靠背椅，如一椅，置於畫案前，圖見明代木板印本《列女傳》，萬曆版，卷8至17。

隆重場合，靠背椅添罩椅披，既賞心悅目，又禮數周全，可敬座上之賓。木板印本《金瓶梅》中有此場面，宴飲席間，文人坐於靠背椅上觀賞樂舞，圖見韓蕙，《Ming Furniture in the Light of Chinese Architecture》，柏克萊，2015年， 頁51。

靠背椅原比圈椅普遍，然存世之例竟比圈椅更寥，或因靠背椅構造不易保存。比一靠背椅，頗為相似，錄Karen Mazurkewich，《Chinese Furniture. A Guide to Collecting Antiques》，拉特蘭，2006年， 圖497， 頁192。另比一燈掛椅，靠背板光素無紋，錄王世襄，《明式傢具研究》，卷1，香港， 1990年， 圖版1.11，頁23；及一椅，錄安思遠，《Chinese Hardwood Furniture in Hawaiian Collections》，檀香山，1982年，圖版36，頁57。

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明代木板印本《列女傳》，萬曆版，卷8，插圖

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紫貞堂藏明式黃花梨傢具

紫貞堂主人暨收藏家賴女士，為九十年代活耀於台灣的知名室內設計師。她自幼成長於台灣滿室古董文物的積善之家，受父親啓蒙自小常跟隨父親逛古董店因而也耳濡目染喜愛欣賞傳統中國古文物。七十年代初期賴女士就讀於有亞洲最美大學之稱的台灣私立東海大學。因從父意主修經濟學，但基於她對藝術美學的熱愛，大三即副修建築，在中西融合唯美空靈的校園中薰陶了四年，大學畢業後即負笈美國，修得室內建築設計碩士學位，繼而在波士頓，舊金山，紐約及台灣從事室內設計工作多年，負責銀行，企業總部，美國的五星級酒店及私人會所的設計業務。賴女士因成長背景及至成年後的專業設計工作均浸濡於藝術氛圍的優雅環境中，故養成了她對美學的極緻追求。

八十年代因中國對外政策開放，使陸港間古文物流通激增，商機蓬勃，香港是全球最主要的古文物集散地，世界各地大小博物館的中國藝術部門及中國文物專家古董商等都定期來香港尋寶搜貨，明式古傢具亦於此時期流入香港。1985年中賴女士因夫婿吳博士任職之紐約摩根銀行外派至亞洲履職之緣遷居香港近六年，大量接觸中國古文物及現代水墨畫的學習與鑑賞！ 1985年曾在師承丁衍庸之香港名畫家莫一點先生工作室學習鑑賞中國現代水墨畫，又因敏求精舍長輩范老的引領，經常跟隨現身於香港各大拍賣場，近距離接觸古文物及書畫，也結識了香港知名古董行家亦來自台灣的陳淑貞女士（Susan Chen）, 經她帶領參加香港東方陶瓷學會（OCS）吸收古陶瓷的知識及鑑賞，開始收藏宋磁及高古陶瓷器。1985年中更經由乃父介紹結識了位於荷里活道的古典傢具店 C.L. Ma Antiques「樂成行」掌門人馬可樂先生夫婦，開始接觸到明式黃花梨傢具。賴女士喜愛黃花梨的細緻紋理及溫潤色澤，尤其鍾愛明式傢具的簡約綫條及現代感。當初因為佈置香港半山區之新居，開始購藏家中所需的傢具，歡喜能天天看到摸到華實兼具的精美古傢具，又能穿梭古今和古人對話，短暫擁有數百年的歷史文化，無意間開啓了她明式黃花棃傢具的收藏。

賴女士在香港居住的八十年代中期，因王世襄先生於1985年出版的中國第一本有關明式傢具專書《明式傢具珍賞》的問世及展覧，吸引了眾多專家學者及收藏家的目光，也開始熱衷研究很少人認識的明末清初之優美古典傢具。賴女士因興趣所在，經常在香港荷里活道流連忘返，常到 C.L. Ma 古典傢具店欣賞研究各式傢具，從近距離目睹一梱梱黒烏烏的實木構件中，看到精密講究的卯榫，隨後在匠師們細清打磨後精巧的組合成一件件令人驚艶的黃花棃傢具，充分展現明式傢具精準的結構及精湛工藝。她也曾遠赴北京，到硬木傢具廠尋寶，結識了北京資深建築師前輩金老先生，聆聴他於七十年代收藏到滿室黃花棃及紫檀傢具之趣事，以上種種因緣際會積累了賴女士對黃花梨傢具的熱愛及收藏。

賴女士慶幸能在明式黃花棃傢具收藏的「黃金時期」恭逢其盛，邂逅到心儀的傢具伴隨家中。鑑於賴女士年事已屆退休之齡，常隨夫雲遊四方，為求簡化生活，心無牽念，故決定將朝夕相伴三十餘年的黃花棃傢具另覓安身之所，「由我得之，由我遣之」， 期盼有下一代的知音藏家接手，能和她一樣喜愛明式黃花梨傢具，永續保存傳承之！