A zitan three-shelf bookcase, Shujia, Early Qing dynasty | 清初 紫檀三層帶抽屜大書架

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The highly esteemed material of zitan (red sandalwood) makes this large piece of furniture a luxuriant possession. Perhaps the most highly prized timber in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, zitan is exceptional for its colour and lustre, which, after long exposure, develops a subtle, appealing, natural purplish-black sheen. The wood is extremely dense and durable, with a fine and subtly variegated grain. Because of the long growth period of the trees, it became a scarce material by the Qing period, so that sizeable objects made of zitan became more and more rare and expensive. Zitan shelving units, such as the present piece, might have been used for treasured books and antiques in an affluent, scholarly household.

 

Wang Shixiang, one of the major experts in Chinese furniture, had in his collection a closely related pair of bookcases, each shelf also enclosed by a lattice work gallery with conjoined double-ring struts, but made in huanghuali wood, the drawers carved with a slightly different design of hornless dragons in relief and attributed to the Ming dynasty. One of his bookcases is illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Classic Chinese Furniture – Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, London, 1986, pl. 131, where the author-collector comments that 'the good proportions and the tasteful decoration endow the shelves with a lightness and a beauty that are quite outstanding'.