A huanghuali round-corner cabinet, Late Ming - early Qing dynasty | 明末至清初 黃花梨面條櫃

Cabinets of this form combine functionality and aesthetics through the harmonious balance of flat surfaces and round members, and the almost imperceptible outward splay of the recessed stiles. The striking swirling patterns of the huanghuali boards set into the door frame are in sharp contrast to the straight metal pulls and backplates, successfully drawing attention to the design. As aptly expressed by George N. Kates, cabinets of this type display the Chinese furniture markers’ 'ability to handle inflexible wood in such masterly fashion that, almost unaware, one receives the impression of design in a living medium' (George N. Kates, Chinese Household Furniture, New York, 1948, p. 32).

A similar cabinet from the Ye Wanfa Collection is illustrated in Wang Shixiang, tr. Sarah Handler, Classic Chinese Furniture, London, 1986, pl. 141; see also a similar cabinet in Robert D. Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture, Minneapolis, 1999, pl. 51; another similar cabinet is illustrated in Lau Chu-Park, Classical Chinese Huanghuali Furniture from the Haven Collection, Hong Kong, 2016, pl. 55, except that the interior space was devoted to a shelf above and a pair of drawers below, while this lot has two layers of shelfs.