Sotheby’s Hong Kong
Presents
An Exhibition of a World Renowned
Top Quality Ming Furniture Collection
14 August – 4 September 2015│Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery
Sotheby’s is honoured to present the exhibition Ming Furniture – The Dr S
Y Yip Collection from 14 August to 4 September at Sotheby’s Hong Kong
Gallery.
Thirty-eight sets of furniture pieces selected from the sublime
Collection will be exhibited in a contemporary setting with reference to the
origin of the furniture in Ming dynasty Suzhou, demonstrating how their classic
design transcends time to fit well in 21st-century living space.
Admired
by collectors worldwide, Dr S Y Yip’s internationally acclaimed
collection is the result of years of fervent acquisition of Ming furniture
throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His pieces are not only excellent and
rare in their quality and range, but also endorsed by renowned scholar and
collector Mr Wang Shixiang, the modern father of Ming furniture.
Even more remarkable is the refined taste of the literati imbued within the
Collection, a testament to Dr Yip’s tenacious pursuit of perfection and
scholarly temperament. The great majority of the Collection came from Grace
Wu Bruce, owner of her eponymous gallery and a leading Ming furniture
expert and dealer.
Widely respected by collectors, scholars and museum
experts, Grace’s professionalism and rigour in maintaining the highest
standards underlie the fame and success of the Collection.
Home to Ming furniture, the Suzhou area in
the lower Yangzi river basin in China was famed for garden houses with
meandering paths offering a different view at every turn.
“Borrowed
views” and “framed views” where delightful vistas are incorporated through
carefully positioned windows are characteristics of these elegant
mansions. This exhibition will use familiar features of Suzhou garden
houses as a backdrop to the furniture display. Meandering paths will lead
visitors through a contemporary space with antique features, created in
reference to the origin of the furniture in Ming dynasty Suzhou.
The new
“Suzhou houses” will be predominantly white to highlight the clean lines and
sculptural qualities of Ming furniture. Three rooms, namely the Drawing
Room, Study and Tea Room, will be set up to demonstrate how the
classic design of Ming furniture transcends time to fit well in a contemporary
living space.
Thirty-eight sets of furniture pieces selected from the sublime Collection will be exhibited in a contemporary setting with reference to the origin of the furniture in Ming dynasty Suzhou, demonstrating how their classic design transcends time to fit well in 21st-century living space.
Even more remarkable is the refined taste of the literati imbued within the Collection, a testament to Dr Yip’s tenacious pursuit of perfection and scholarly temperament. The great majority of the Collection came from Grace Wu Bruce, owner of her eponymous gallery.
Known affectionately to collectors as the “Queen of Huanghuali” after the wood used predominantly in Ming furniture, Grace is a leading Ming furniture expert and dealer.
Widely respected by collectors, scholars and museum experts, her professionalism and rigour in maintaining the highest standards underlie the fame and success of the Collection.
Dr S Y Yip, owner of the Collection, enthuses, “I am delighted with the opportunity to share my collection with fellow art lovers at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery. The charm of Ming furniture lies in its sense of magnanimity, its perfect proportions, its simple silhouette and its fluidity.
"It is its simplicity and noble nature that has elevated Ming furniture to its current status. I am deeply obliged to Grace Wu Bruce, ‘Queen of Huanghuali’, who has advised me for years, as well as Sotheby’s, for their dedicated effort and support, which have enabled these pieces of furniture art to shine with their unique literati spirit in this elegant space.”
Grace Wu Bruce, curator of the exhibition, says, “I am pleased to collaborate with Sotheby’s this summer and put together a selection of 38 sets of Ming furniture from the Dr Y S Yip Collection to be showcased in the international city of Hong Kong. This was however a difficult, if not impossible, task.
"Each piece in the Collection is as fine as the next and qualifies as the highlight of any collection. I would like to thank Dr Yip, who entrusted me with bringing these sublime artworks to a wide audience, and Sotheby’s, especially Chief Executive Kevin Ching, whose active participation made the experience smooth and enjoyable.”
Kevin Ching, Chief Executive Officer, Sotheby’s Asia, says, “Dr Yip has a great passion for Chinese history and culture. His prestigious furniture collection exemplifies the rare union of the best in man and object – the collector’s singular good taste fused with the objects’ intrinsic quality and rarity.
"Dr Yip is a close friend and the exhibition of his furniture collection at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery is to me, both personally and professionally, a marvellous occasion. The exhibition is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all those who love and collect Chinese art and Chinese classical furniture.
"I would like to thank Dr S Y Yip once again for his support and trust in Sotheby’s. I am also grateful to Ms Grace Wu Bruce for her invaluable advice and guidance in the planning and design of this show.”
DR S Y YIP & THE NEW GENERATION OF HONG KONG COLLECTORS
A dermatologist by profession and a Hong Kong native, Dr S Y Yip came to the field of furniture collecting with many years of experience in collecting Chinese ceramics, jades, painting and calligraphy, and was chairman emeritus of the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and a member of the renowned Hong Kong collectors’ club Min Chiu Society.
His concentration on building a furniture collection is informed by a deep knowledge of Chinese art and antiquities and an elegant taste cultivated through a love for scholarly tradition.
Yet to form such an impressive collection within a short span of some 20 years takes more than the usual zeal for acquisition, or the many opportunities provided by Hong Kong’s strategic position as a centre for the trade in Chinese art. In Dr Yip’s own words,
“Collectors need an obsessive side to their psyche. They must be passionate and addicted.” Indeed it is with passion and seriousness that Dr Yip assembles his world- renowned collection and studies the fascinating subject of Chinese furniture.
Dr Yip exemplifies a new generation of collectors who aspire to a realm beyond the elegant and leisurely pursuits of a learned gentleman in the past. These collectors integrate their collecting activities with connoisseurship and scholarship, working closely with scholars, professionals, museum curators and dealers not only in Hong Kong, but also in China and abroad.
Among the institutions Dr Yip has worked with are the Art Museum at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the University Museum and Art Gallery at the University of Hong Kong, the Arthur M Sackler Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, both in Washington D.C., the Denver Art Museum, the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona, the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, the Macao Museum of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst in Germany.
In addition to being patrons of the arts, these collectors actively engage in research, participate in lectures and symposia, publish scholarly essays and curate exhibitions.
Hong Kong is home to many collectors of this calibre, whose contributions to the study of the various branches of Chinese art as well as to the enrichment of the cultural life in Hong Kong will become interesting areas of sociological investigation in the history of art collecting of the 20th century.
“Ming furniture” in the narrow sense refers to hardwood furniture made in the late Ming to early Qing dynasties, mostly in huanghuali wood. Originally manufactured in Suzhou, Dongshan in the Jiangnan area, these furniture pieces are of superb quality and, most notably, an ingenious and highly impressive joinery system.
The perfection of Chinese joinery in late Ming was a combined result of the tradition of fine carpentry transmitted from Song (960-1280) times and the Ming knowledge of hardwood.
Technical advancement through the three dynasties resulted in mechanisms that are simple, precise, practical as well as aesthetically pleasant. The strength of the hardwood allowed craftsmen to create very complicated and ingenious joints.
Metal nails are never used and glue is always secondary to the joinery. Joinery is the sole method by which members can be connected one to another on any surface regardless of whether they are thick or thin, slanted or vertical. The joints are crafted with such consummate skill that not even a hair can be inserted and executed so judiciously that a piece looks well from any angle.
CLASSIC DESIGN & MODERN SETTING
Home to Ming furniture, the Suzhou area in the lower Yangzi river basin in China was famed for garden houses with meandering paths offering a different view at every turn. “Borrowed views” and “framed views” where delightful vistas are incorporated through carefully positioned windows are characteristics of these elegant mansions. This exhibition will use familiar features of Suzhou garden houses as a backdrop to the furniture display.
Meandering paths will lead visitors through a contemporary space with antique features, created in reference to the origin of the furniture in Ming dynasty Suzhou.
The new “Suzhou houses” will be predominantly white to highlight the clean lines and sculptural qualities of Ming furniture. Three rooms, namely the Drawing Room, Study and Tea Room, will be set up to demonstrate how the classic design of Ming furniture transcends time to fit well in a contemporary living space.
DRAWING ROOM (3 SETS, 5 PIECES)
Pair of Lamp Stands, Huanghuali Wood Late Ming to early Qing (1600 – 1700); Width 21.9 cm, Depth 27.8 cm, Height 122 cm Lamp stands were mostly made in pairs but over time became separated; while there are single pieces in surviving examples, pairs are very rare with only less than a handful of published examples known. In the present example, the central post is extendable. Metal sliding bolts are installed in the cross stretcher. These would fit into sockets at different levels of the uprights of the stand to hold the post at the desired height.
Couch Bed Luohan Chuang, Huanghuali Wood Late Ming (1573 – 1644); Width 202.5 cm, Depth 86.4 cm, Height 91 cm, Seat Height 50 cm Couch beds with original back and arms made of huanghuali wood datable to the classical period are extremely rare. The rarity of this type stems from the fact that the arms and back are easily removable and prone to dislocation from their base. This classic couch bed of excellent modelling is completely plain, of elegant proportions and a superb example.
The strong linear lines of the seat, legs and low-shaped hoof feet combined with the very gently arched back and arms convey the essence of ancient and primitive simplicity, evoking a sense of timelessness, harmony and calm.
STUDY (4 SETS, 6 PIECES)
Large Painting Table, Huanghuali Wood Late Ming (1573 – 1644); Width 213 cm, Depth 76.3 cm, Height 83.4 cm Painting tables, large-scale pieces of a certain depth suitable to be used as desks, belong to the rarest type of tables in surviving examples of Ming furniture.
Bamboo or cane furniture was often depicted in Song (960–1280) and Ming (1368–1644) paintings. The Guotui or “wrap around the legs” method (pictured left) of making furniture with precious hardwood was inspired by its bamboo counterpart. This table with its rounded surfaces and round legs was designed to portray a bamboo table. The usage of precious hardwood to simulate common material illustrates the taste of the Ming elite for understatement in artistic expression.
Pair of Continuous Horseshoe Armchairs, Huanghuali Wood Late Ming (1573–1644); Width 61.1 cm, Depth 46 cm, Height 94 cm One of the three main types of Ming chairs, the horseshoe shape design is uniquely Chinese and has been the inspiration behind 20th-century modern furniture. This pair of chairs, because of their continuous arm-post construction, belong to a rarer type of horseshoe armchairs. Other special features include the catapult-shaped spandrels on the stiles and the four-part back splat with a caned central section. These chairs, in rich brown colour and dense grain, are made of huanghuali of the best variety.
TEA ROOM (ALSO KNOWN AS KANG ROOM) (3 SETS 4 PIECES)
Folding Kang Table, Huanghuali wood Late Ming (1573–1644); Width 85 cm, Depth 41.7 cm, Height 25.8 cm This exquisite table, with deep curvilinear-shaped aprons and carved leaf spandrels as well as flowing leaf-shaped legs and feet on pads, is reminiscent of early Song furniture forms seen in paintings and woodblock illustrations. Conveniently folded away for storage or travelling, this kang table is another example of the growing body of folding furniture made in the Ming that have been recently rediscovered.
Pair of Square Corner Kang Cabinets, Huanghuali Wood Late Ming (1573 – 1644), Width 39.2 cm, Depth 24.3 cm, Height 49.9 cm Cabinets of this size were probably meant for use on the kang. Surviving examples made in huanghuali wood are very rare, a pair even more so. This pair are made with beautifully grained huanghuali wood, used throughout the cabinets.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
TABLES:
High Waist Incense Table, Huanghuali Wood and Pudding Stone Late Ming (1573–1644); Width 79 cm, Depth 49.3 cm, Height 84 cm This piece has such a simple form that it relies entirely on the delicacy of its proportions for its beauty. Its retrained framework sets off perfectly the complex and colourful pattern of the pudding stone panel inset in the frame top. Tables of this design without stretchers between the legs belong to a type classic to Ming furniture design and were frequently depicted in contemporary paintings and woodblock print illustrations. However, surviving examples are rare. This table is probably an incense table, used for displaying a rock sculpture, fragrant miniature plant, flower vase or an incense burner.
Long Pingtouan Table, Huanghuali Wood and Huamu Late Ming to early Qing (1600–1700); Width 204.5 cm, Depth 53.6 cm, Height 78.2 cm This is an exquisite variation of the standard design, substituting beautifully rendered stylised phoenixes in openwork carving (pictured below) in lieu of the typical plain mitred spandrels. In addition, the stretchers between the legs, normally plain, round or oval in section, are also replaced by ones with stylised phoenixes, exquisitely carved in openwork. This feature is unique amongst published examples to-date.
STOOLS AND CHAIRS: Large Pair of High Continuous Yoke-Back Armchairs, Huanghuali Wood Late Ming (1573–1644); Width 58.5 cm, Depth 45.3 cm, Height 124 cm The continuous yoke-back armchair is a classic type of Ming chair. The ranking of chairs in the Ming period was hierarchical with large-size and high-back chairs considered more important seats reserved for the master of the house and senior guests.
The extremely high backs of the present examples indicate that they were seats of great importance at the time. Except for beaded edges on the seat frames and flat-banded edges on the front aprons underneath the seats, this pair of chairs are completely plain. Consequently, their height and statuesque proportions are emphasised. The timber chosen for the back splats have whorl patterns, showing huanghuali wood at its best. While the design of these chairs is standard, their exceptional height and fine proportions place them among the best examples of their type.
BEDS:
Six-Post Canopy Bed, Huanghuali Wood Late Ming (1573–1644); Width 214 cm, Depth 126 cm, Height 205.5 cm This is a magnificent canopy bed of exceptional beauty. Even without the silk hangings and bedding of its original state in a late Ming setting, it still exudes a sense of luxury and sumptuousness. The design is extremely refined. The begonia shapes and crosses on the railings are contrasted by short members joined together, forming a beautiful pattern. Below the canopy, the hanging eaves are inset with panels of openwork stylised lingzhi fungus, and every element of the bed is edged with fine mouldings.
The curvaceous design on the aprons of the bed and the carved c-scrolls where the apron meets the legs form a beautiful silhouette. Although often illustrated in woodblock prints of Ming books, surviving examples of canopy beds of this calibre are seldom found. The timber employed is of the highest quality, a rich orange-brown huanghuali wood, beautifully figured and very tight grained. The entire superstructure can be dismantled.
STANDS: Rectangular Incense Stand, Huanghuali Wood and Burl Wood (also pictured on p1) Late Ming (1573–1644); Width 56.4 cm, Depth 45.2 cm, Height 81.5 cm Incense stands belong to one of the rarest types in surviving examples of Ming furniture. They were made in square, rectangular, octagonal and round as well as various lobed shapes. Their function was for displaying a rock sculpture, fragrant miniature plant, flower vase or an incense burner. They were also seen being placed outdoors for worship in woodblock illustrations to Ming books. This beautiful example, decorated only by subtle beadings, has an inset burl panel top. The clay, ramie, and lacquer undercoating is almost completely intact.
TABLE TOP FURNITURE:
Large Table Screen, Huanghuali Wood and Dalishi Marble Late Ming (1573 – 1644); Width 56.3 cm, Depth 32.7 cm, Height 62 cm Table screens are contracted versions of large floor screens, their method of making often identical to their large counterparts. This piece with panels fixed to the base is a smaller version of the large floor screens often depicted in woodblock illustrations to Ming publications.
Two-Tier Carry Box, Huanghuali & Boxwood Late Ming to early Qing (1600 – 1700); Width 35.5 cm, Depth 20 cm, Height 24 cm The design of these tiered carry boxes originated from food boxes, made mostly of bamboo and lightweight woods for easy carriage.
Attendants carrying them on outings are depicted in numerous Ming period paintings and woodblock illustrations to Ming novels. This fine example, made in heavy and dense huanghuali wood and exquisitely inlaid with boxwood “chihulong” dragons, derived from common food boxes and was used to contain valuables. The entire structure of the box trays can be rendered inaccessible with a lock fitted to the opening at one end of the metal rod on the handle.
I) Rediscovering Ming Furniture in the 20th and 21st Centuries In comparison to those well-established areas of Chinese art such as painting, calligraphy, ceramics, jades, bronzes, the scholarship of Chinese furniture is a relatively new field. Not only are there questions of dating, restoration and alteration, the concepts of Chinese furniture and their historical development continue to evolve.
Recent discoveries of extant examples, archaeological excavations, visual and textual evidence expand existing knowledge of the subject and shed light on hitherto unknown types and forms of furniture. Moreover, these valuable materials also enable in-depth explorations of their technical construction, stylistic evolution, regional characteristics and aesthetic criteria, at the same time allowing investigations into the cultural and social aspects of furniture in the daily living of different classes of people. The inter-relationship of furniture with architecture and gardens in the living environment and their place in household interiors are new initiatives of scholarship worthy of mention.
II) EXHIBITION DETAILS
Date and Opening Hours 14 August – 4 September 2015 Monday - Friday: 10am – 6pm Saturday - Sunday: 11am – 5pm
Venue Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery, 5/F, One Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong
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