Balance stand, Huanghuali wood Late Ming (1573 – 1644)

Estimate

200,000 - 200,000 HKD

bidding is closed

Description

Surviving examples of balance stands made in huanghuali wood are very rare, this highly decorated glamorous piece, even rarer.

Exhibited

Hong Kong, 1991, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, “The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture”
Denver, Colorado, 1997 – 1999, Denver Art Museum

Literature

Grace Wu Bruce, Dreams of Chu Tan Chamber and the Romance with Huanghuali Wood: The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1991, pp. 162 – 163
Yip Shing Yiu, ‘Collecting Ming Furniture of Huang Hua-Li Wood’, Arts of Asia, May – June 1991, Hong Kong, p. 121

Catalogue Note

Similar example:
Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, pp. 186 – 187 for a similar but completely plain piece in the Museum’s collection

Balances are small scales used to weigh silver pieces etc, they were widely used as measures when silver was the common currency, and balance stands were the accessory furniture to hang the balance scales.
Balance stands were used in both Ming households and commercial premises. The Ming dynasty novel Amazing Tales—Second Series, illustrates a balance stand in a Ming home, and a balance stand is shown in use in a shop in the 16th century novel The Gold Lotus, Jin Ping Mei Cihua in vol. 1, chapter 60.
This example is highly decorated. The top inset panel is carved with flowers and birds in openwork, the two spandrels at the corner below are carved with coiled hornless dragons, as are the ear-shaped spandrels on either side of the uprights. The solid feet are carved with drum elements and a stylized ‘shou’ character. The drawer is fitted with baitong plate and pull. The main joints are reinforced with baitong plates in order to withstand the stress caused by the addition of the scale and weights.