A LARGE 'HUANGHUALI' MEDICINE CABINET LATE MING DYNASTY

made in huanghuali throughout, the base constructed as a stand in the form of a rectangular frame with a tongue-and-grooved floating panel with two transverse stretchers underneath, modelled with two uprights connected by an arch-shaped handle and a raised central section between the small feet, the top and the sides of the cabinet of dove-tailed panels while the back panel is tongue-and-grooved to the top, sides and the base, the two front doors of mitred frame construction with beautifully figured, single-board tongue-and-grooved panels, the cabinet further decorated with U-shaped huangtong hinges and round door plates with shaped door pulls, the interior with nine drawers arranged in three levels with beautifully shaped huangtong plates and pulls

Grace Wu Bruce, Feast by a wine table reclining on a couch: The Dr S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture III, Art Museum, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2007, pp. 196-197.

Grace Wu Bruce, Chinese Classic Furniture: Selections from Hong Kong and London Gallery, Hong Kong, 2001, pp. 84-85.

The name of medicine chest or cabinet has been given to a type of box of which the interior has many drawers, but in fact their usage is manifold, suitable for the storage of various precious objects. The present example is a particularly large example, quite rare.

For a similar example in the Seattle Art Museum, see Grace Wu Bruce, ‘Small Portable Treasures, Examples of Classic Chinese Furniture: (V)’, Oriental Art, Autumn, 1993, London, p. 55.