Massage stool and footrest, Huanghuali wood Late Ming (1573 – 1644)

The top of standard mitre, mortise and tenon frame construction with exposed tenons on the short sides of the frame. A wide transverse stretcher is set flush, T-mitred, mortised and tenoned to the frame dividing the space inside the mitred frame into two parts, the larger part inset with a flush, tongue-and-grooved, single board floating panel and the smaller part with two rollers hinged on extended dowels fitting into sockets in the inside edge of the mitred frame. The outside edge of the frame moulds downward and inward and ends in a narrow flat band. The aprons, straight and plain on three sides and curvilinear shaped on the side of the rollers are halflapped, mortised and tenoned to the legs which end in well shaped hoof feet. Baitong mounts are inlaid into the corners of the top of the massage stool and footrest.

Hong Kong, 1995, Grace Wu Bruce gallery, “Ming Furniture”
Singapore, 1997 – 1999, Asian Civilisations Museum, “The Chinese Collection”
Macau, 2003, The Macao Museum of Art “The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture”

Grace Wu Bruce, Ming Furniture, Hong Kong, 1995, pp.64 – 65
Grace Wu Bruce, Chan Chair and Qin Bench: The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture II, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 84 – 85
Grace Wu Bruce, Ming Furniture Through My Eyes, The Forbidden City Publishing House, Beijing, 2015, p. 180

Similar example:
National Museum of History, Splendor of Style: Classical Furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, p. 199 for a massage stool and footrest, the only other extant example known to this author

Footrests and massage stools are usually separate pieces of furniture. Refer to the footrests and the massage stool illustrated in the 15th century carpenter’s manual, Lu Ban Jingjiang Jiajing. This unusual piece which combines the functions of a footrest and a massage stool is almost unique among published examples.