The Gangolf Geis Collection.

Christie's New York, 18th September 2003, lot ﷽20.

Gangolf Geis 收藏

紐約佳士得2003年9月18日，編號20

Daybeds, ta, are among the oldest type of furniture made in China. Popular since the Han dynasty, when they elevated high-ranking individuals, by the Ming period these raised rectangular platforms were used both in scholar's studios and in sleeping quarters. More commonly made to accommodate only one person, 🔴the impressive proportions of the present example would have made it an ideal double-bed at night and a practical living platform during the day.

The rounded members of this daybed and its stretchers, which encircle the legs and create a double-moulded design, imitate bamboo furniture construction. Bamboo had long proved a popular furniture medium: not only was this wood traditionally associated with virtuous qualities in a scholar, its flexibility and natural roundness allowed craftsmen to create furniture that was comfortable, light and attractive. Ming dynasty cabinet-makers recreated these🉐 qualities in precious hardwood through a laborious process of carving and lathing.

Daybeds of such large dimensions are unusual, and those carved to simulate bamboo are seldom known. A ta of this design, but conceived as a single bed, and with double-ring struts, in the Honolulu Academy of Arts, was included in the Museum's exhibition Chinese Hardwood Furniture in Hawaiian Collections, Honolulu, 1981, cat. no. 12; and another was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2012, lot 4077. See also a line drawing of a daybed of this design, illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture. Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1990, vol. 2, pl. C1.

榻，乃中式家具💎古老款樣之一，自兩漢已風靡，供貴冑睡臥，及至明代，除常置臥室，亦可入書房。涼榻雖多為一人用，然現例尺寸寬綽，可臥二人，起居皆宜。

此榻部件圓實，裹腿棖四面交🅘圈，乃仿竹製家具。長久以來，竹製家具受人喜愛，因竹之挺拔氣節素為文人所仰，且竹柔韌圓活，宜造輕便之物。明🔜代工匠取名貴木材傾力打磨，活現竹之靈秀。

榻大如斯已不多見，仿竹製者更罕。可比一例，構造相似，然僅容一人臥，帶雙環矮老，檀香山藝術博物館藏，曾展於該館《Chinese Hardwood Furniture in Hawaiian Collections》，檀香山，1981年，編號12；另一例，售於ꦯ香港佳士得2012年5月30日，編號4077。亦參考一白描例，見王世襄，《明式家具研究》，香港，1990年，卷II，圖版C1。