Lot 4144. A bronze 'Geometric design' mirror, Eastern Han dynasty (25-220), 6 1/4 in. (16 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 40,000 - HKD 60,000. Price realised HKD 30,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The circular mirror with a central domed knob which is raised on a quatrefoil platform intercepted by four characters Changyi zisun, 'To benefit a long line of descendents', encircled by a scalloped band enclosing floral and three-line symbols. The outer field is embellished with rings of circle-dotted lines and hatch pattern, all below a broad rim. The bronze has a silvery patina and areas of malachite encrustation, Japanese wood box. 

Provenance: A Japanese private collection, acquired circa 1980    

Note: A number of mirrors of similar pattern are known. Two are in the Idemitsu Collection, illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, pls. 276 and 278. One is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Palace Museum's Collections of Bronze Mirrors, Beijing, 2008, pl. 18. Another two in the Donald H. Graham Jr. Collection are illustrated by Wong Yanchung, 'Bronze Mirror Art of the Han Dynasty', Chinese Bronzes - Selected articles from Orientations 1983-2000, Hong Kong, 2001, pp. 64-65, figs. 12-13. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

Lot 4141. A rare silvered bronze 'Lion and Grape' mirror, Tang dynasty (618-907), 4 7/8 in. (12.5 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 100,000 - HKD 150,000. Price realised HKD 87,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The circular mirror is cast in high relief with a crouching lion knob encircled with grape vines and four further lions, the outer field with nine birds amidst similar vine scrolls, below a band of floral designs. The bronze has silvery patina, Japanese wood box. 

Provenance: A Japanese private collection, acquired in the 1980s    

Note: The lion designs were first seen on bronze mirrors upon the introduction of Buddhism into China, and became very popular in the Tang period. Compare two very large examples (24 cm diam.) with similar decoration but with additional lions surrounding the knob in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Shanghai Bowuguan cang qingtong jing, Shanghai, 1987, pls. 84-85. . 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

TLV Mirror with Gilt Surface, 2nd century BC, China, Western Han dynasty (202 BC-AD 9), gilt bronze, Diameter: w. 14.2 cm (5 9/16 in.); Overall: h. 1.2 cm (7/16 in.); Rim: h. 0.6 cm (3/16 in.). Gift of Drs. Thomas and Martha Carter in Honor of Sherman E. Lee, 1995.294© The Cleveland Museum of Art

Lot 4054. A magnificent large blue and white 'Mandarin ducks' charger, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), 17 3/4 in. (45 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 12,000,000 - HKD 18,000,000. Price realised HKD 29,220,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The charger is finely painted in vibrant tones of underglaze blue to depict a pair of mandarin ducks swimming amidst flowering lotus plants within double-line borders. The cavetto is delicately painted with a band of scrolling lotus consisting of seven flowers borne on meandering leafy stems, below an everted rim decorated with classic scrolls. The exterior is similarly adorned with a band of scrolling lotus. The base is unglazed with an edge-cut foot rim, Japanese box.

Provenance: Reputed to have been in the collection of a Japanese Daimyo in the 17th century
Acquired by the present owner's father from an antique dealer, Harabun, based in Ueno in the 1930s

Literature: Illustrated in Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Japanese Economic Times), Cultural and Educational section, 13 April 1985 

Exhibited: Exhibition of Blue and White Wares in Yuan Dynasty: 14th century Ching-te Chen Wares, The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1985, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 33 

Note: The central design of ducks on a lotus pond became popular on porcelains painted in underglaze blue during the latter part of the Yuan dynasty, and this magnificent example is exceptionally vibrantly painted, while the balance between the three areas of the decoration is particularly good. This is a design that is very effective on large dishes such as the current piece, and is found on large dishes both with straight rims, as here, and with bracket-lobed rims like that in the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 34, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 12, no. 10 [fig. 1]). The design also appears to have been popular at the courts of rulers in Western Asia and South Asia, since a slightly smaller example from the Ardebil Collection is illustrated by J. A. Pope in Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, reprint London, 1981, pl. 7; another is preserved in the collection of the Topkapi Saray (illustrated by J. Ayers and R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. II, p. 495, fig. 569); a further dish was found in Damascus (illustrated by J. Carswell in Blue & White - Chinese Porcelain Around the World, London, 2000, p. 55, no. 55); while fragments of several vessel bearing similar ducks and lotus decoration were found at the Tughlaq palace in Delhi (illustrated by E.S. Smart in 'Fourteenth Century Chinese porcelain from a Tughlaq Palace in Delhi', Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 41, 1975-77, pls. 75a, 79d, 81d [fig. 2], 85a, 86b and c, 87c, 88a, 89 a, c, e and f, and 90a). A comparable large dish with the same mandarin ducks theme on the interior but with lozenge diaper on the broad mouth rim was sold at Christie's New York, 1 December 1988, lot 288 [fig. 3]. 

A number of Yuan dynasty blue and white dishes are known which bear a similar design of lotus without the pair of mandarin ducks. However, the combination of lotus and mandarin ducks, seen on the current vessel, is especially auspicious. One word for lotus in Chinese is a homophone for the word for harmony, while another word for lotus is homophonous to a word meaning successive. Thus, combined with a pair of mandarin ducks, which symbolise fidelity, they form an appropriate wedding motif wishing the couple a harmonious marriage blessed by the birth of many illustrious sons. 

The decoration on this dish represents one of the earliest examples of a particular composition of these motifs on porcelain which was to find imperial favour in China during the succeeding Ming dynasty. Ducks had been depicted with lotus plants on ceramics as early as the Tang dynasty - often on low-fired wares decorated with sancai glazes - but these ducks were usually shown in a formal design, rather than in a naturalistic setting and swimming. Such a formal design can be seen on a sancai pillow in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Porcelain of the Jin and Tang Dynasties, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 31, Hong Kong, 1996, pp. 232-3, no. 212). 

In the Song dynasty swimming ducks appeared in carved designs on high-fired ceramics from a number kiln sites, including those of Yaozhou and Ding. Some of these are shown on a lotus pond, and the water is usually depicted using undulating parallel lines. Several Ding ware dishes with this design are in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei (illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ting Ware White Porcelain, Taipei, 1987, no. 77). Although visually these ducks are convincingly placed upon the water, there is no indication of their effect on the water - no ripples related to their swimming. 

It was not until the Yuan dynasty that the particular composition on the current blue and white dish showed water rippling in front of both ducks as they swam, like small bow waves, and even an indication of the flow of the water past the lotus plants. These ripples are important in changing a static design into one incorporating movement. This, more natural, treatment of these popular motifs is the one that was also adopted by the ceramic decorators at the imperial kilns of the Ming dynasty. These same ripples can be seen on the Xuande (1426-35) proto-doucai bowl in the Sa'kya Monastery, Tibet (illustrated in Gems of China's Cultural Relics, Beijing, 1993, no. 34), and on a Jiajing (1522-66) blue and white dish in the collection of the British Museum (illustrated by Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 226, no. 9:25). Another aspect of the design on the current dish that was adopted by later ceramic decorators at the imperial Ming kilns was the grouping of the lotus plants in order to create a balanced design. 

Lot 4067. A very rare blue and white 'Phoenix' bowl, Wanli six-character mark within double-circles and of the period (1573-1619), 8 in. (20.2 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 800,000 - HKD 1,500,000. Price realised HKD 1,460,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The interior is finely painted with two swooping phoenix on a dense lotus scroll ground within a medallion. The cavetto is encircled by eight phoenix roundels below a border of lingzhi fungus at the rim. The exterior is similarly painted with phoenixes in flight between aWan and trellis border at the rim and lappets around the foot, box.

Exhibited: David Lin & Company, Yuan and Ming Blue and White Porcelain, Taipei, 2000, pl. 20  

Note: Compare with a very similar example in the National Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, illustrated in Blue-and-White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book VI, CAFA, Hong Kong, 1963, no. 16, p. 60, pls. 16 a-c. Another nearly identical Wanli-marked bowl from the Dr Ip Yee Collection was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19 November 1984, lot 190. 

The archaistic phoenix motif on the present bowl found its inspiration from examples produced earlier in the Xuande period (1426-1435) such as the Xuande-marked phoenix dish from the Robert Chang Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 November 2004, lot 864. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

Lot 4057. A large early Ming blue and white 'Peony' charger, Yongle period (1403-1425), 15 7/8 in. (40.2 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 1,000,000 - HKD 1,500,000. Price realised HKD 1,076,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The dish is finely painted in bright sapphire-blue tones with two peony blooms growing from a curled branch bearing leaves and buds, surrounded on the cavetto with a continuous lotus scroll and on the everted lipped rim with eight detached fruit and flower sprays. The exterior is detailed with a further lotus meander, all within double-line borders. The base is unglazed, box.

Note: An identical dish was included in the Exhibition of Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated From the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1989, illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 63, figs. 1 and 2. The dish found in the early Yongle stratum at the Zhushan Road site, together with another dish with a similar medallion but with different borders.

Dishes of this pattern include two in the Topkapi Saray Museum, illustrated by J. Ayers and R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. II, 1986, no. 598; another two in the Archaeological Museum of Iran, Teheran, recorded by A. Pope, Chinese Porcelain from the Ardebil Shrine, 1956, pl. 32, no. 29.65-66; a dish included in the Exhibition of Ming Blue and White, Philadelphia, 1949, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 31; one from the collection of Sir John Addis, now in the British Museum, illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, no. 3:33; and another from the Qing Court Collection, Beijing, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 55. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

Lot 4094. A fine Transitional blue and white double-gourd vase, Chongzhen period (1628-1644), 12 1/2 in (31.9 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 400,000 - HKD 600,000. Price realised HKD 1,040,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The lower section of the vase is painted in purple tones of cobalt blue with a continuous figural scene depicting the 'Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove'. The figures are shown in conversation, reclining at leisure and appreciating paintings amongst rockwork, bamboo and plantain trees. The upper-section is finely detailed with a sleeping figure resting on a picnic box beside an attendant making tea. The scenes are bordered by foliate scroll bands at the waisted mid-section and neck.

Provenance: An Italian family collection 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

Lot 4068. A fine small blue and white 'Dragon' bowl, Wanli six-character mark within double circles and of the period (1573-1619), 3 3/8 in. (8.5 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 100,000 - HKD 150,000. Price realised HKD 325,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The bowl is painted in tones of violet-blue depicting a frontal five-clawed dragon in the centre of the interior. The cavetto is decorated with a pair of phoenixes separated by cloud scrolls, the exterior with a continuous meandering peony scroll, Japanese wood box. 

Provenance: A Japanese private collection since the mid-20th century 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

Lot 4066. A fine large late Ming blue and white 'Flower basket' dish, Wanli six-character mark within double-circles and of the period (1573-1619), 11 5/8 in. (29.5 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 200,000 - HKD 300,000. Price realised HKD 200,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The dish is of shallow form with steeply rounded sides. The centre of the dish is boldly painted in vibrant tones of underglaze blue with a basket containing 'Flowers of the Four Seasons'. The well is decorated with leafy branches and foliate sprigs interspersed with scattered fans and shells, the underside with butterflies in flight amidst flowering peony sprays. 

Provenance: Tai Sing Fine Antiques Ltd., Hong Kong 

Note: The flower basket motif was popular during the Wanli period, a similar example is illustrated in Toji Taikei, vol. 42, Tokyo, 1975, pl. 90. For a Tianqi-marked example see the large dish (33 cm.) in the Nezu Art Museum, Tokyo, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, p. 114, no. 115; another Tianqi-marked dish similar to the Nezu Art Museum dish, in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, In Pursuit of the Dragon, Seattle Art Museum, 1988, p. 147, no. 80. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

Lot 4061. A fine and rare Ming blue and white 'Mythical beasts' dish , Wanli six-character mark within double-circles and of the period (1573-1619), 10 in. (25.3 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 120,000 - HKD 180,000. Price realised HKD 87,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The interior medallion is decorated in vivid blue with a lion, horses and mythical beasts including a qilin surrounded by a landscape of rockwork and trees. The well is encircled with six floral and fruit sprays, the reverse detailed with floral scrolls; Japanese box. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

Lot 4056. A rare early Ming blue and white globular bowl, jingshuiwan, Xuande six-character mark in a line and of the period (1426-1435), 3 3/4 in. (9.7 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 1,800,000 - HKD 2,500,000. Price realised HKD 2,180,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Well-potted of globular form, the bowl is painted on the rounded sides with a broad band of open blooms including rose, camellia, peony and hibiscus, borne on an undulating stem issuing small leaves, above a band of upright lappets and a band of classic scroll encircling the foot. The interior is painted with a central chrysanthemum roundel; box. 

Provenance: David Lin & Co. 

Literature: Hisashi Takuma, Minsho Toji Zukan, Yusankaku Inc., 1968, Catalogue, no. 11 

Exhibited: The Ceramic Society of Japan, Inaugural Exhibition, Hiroshima, 6 February 1954, no. 14 

Note: Globular bowls of this type were known as pure water bowls, jingshuiwan, and were used in Buddhist rituals as vessels containing sacred water used to purify the heart.

A number of examples exist in private and museum collections including one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, pp. 60-61; and another is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 636. 

Compare also an example from the Percival David Collection sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 May 2007, lot 1351, and another from the E.T. Chow Collection sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19 May 1981, lot 402. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

Lot 4075. A fine and rare huanghuali four-poster canopy bed, jiazichuang, Late Ming-early Qing dynasty, 17th century; 83 in. (210.8 cm.) high x 89 in. (228 cm.) wide x 62 in. (157.5 cm.) deep. Estimate HKD 2,200,000 - HKD 2,800,000. Price realised HKD 9,844,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The rectangular mitred bed frame with soft mat seat is supported on sturdy legs of circular section joined by humpbacked leg-encircling stretchers separated by oval braces set at regular intervals. The back and side railing panels each have interlocking circles carved of one piece of wood bordered above and below by carved circular braces. The upper canopy panels are set with slightly squared oval braces separated by oval struts.

Provenance: Sold at Christie's New York, 16 September 1999, lot 79. 

Note: Four-poster canopy beds in huanghuali are an extremely rare form and the simple but arresting interlocked hoop motif on the present lot makes it all the more unusual. A woodblock picture dating to 1640 illustrated by Sarah Handler Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, California, 2001, p. 145 shows an example of a four-poster canopy bed but very few other extant examples are known. A closely related huanghuali example from the collection of Robert and William Drummond, with these interlocked hoops, but also interlocked double braces above them, is illustrated by Gustav Ecke, Chinese Domestic Furniture, Hong Kong, 1978, p. 36, no. 25. The same bed, described as being in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, is also published in Journal of The Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Spring 1992, p. 11, fig. 9, in Sarah Handler's article, A Little World Made Cunningly: The Chinese Canopy Bed, where the author mentions that the interlocked circles appropriately symbolize eternal unity and marital harmony. A drawing of a four-poster bed with interlocked circular braces on the upper part of the railing is illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Connoiseurship of Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1990, vol. II, p. 134, C15. Another example with more angular latticework and supported on complex cabriole feet was sold at Christie's New York, 16 September 1998, lot 81.

The present example differs from the Sackler bed primarily in the upper canopy and the lower half. Instead of a plain apron with cabriole legs, this lot has a leg-encircling pieced apron with oval braces and straight legs. This gives the effect of airiness which is echoed in the openwork oval struts of the canopy. The use of the leg-encircling apron also refers to the decorative motifs of bamboo furniture. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

Lot 4077. A rare huanghuali waistless daybed, ta, late Ming dynasty, 17th century; 19 11/16 in. (50 cm.) high, 73 in. (185.4 cm.) wide, 25 5/8 in. (65 cm.) deep. Estimate HKD 2,000,000 - HKD 3,000,000. Price realised HKD 8,300,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The soft mat seat is set within the wide rectangular frame with rounded edges, above plain stretchers supported by pairs of vertical struts set into long stretchers. The frame is supported on thick legs of rounded section.

Provenance: Nicholas Grindley. 

Exhibited: N. Grindley, International Asian Art Fair, New York, 25-30 March 1999, no. 8 

Note: The present daybed, with its simple and restrained lines, represents one of the most popular forms found in classical Chinese furniture design. The use of the daybed was manifold - during the day, it served as a sitting platform, and at night a bed. In Austere Luminosity of Classical Chinese Furniture, Berkeley, 2001, pp. 105-21, S. Handler discusses the origins and uses of this intriguing form. For a further discussion, see R. H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ching Dynasties, New York, 1971, pp. 90-1. Also of note are two similarly dated examples in huanghuali, illustrated by Ellsworth, pls. 37-8. A closely related huanghuali ta, dated 16th/17th century, formerly in the collection of Gangolf Geis, was sold at Christie's New York, 18 September 2003, lot 20.

A huanghuali bamboo-style daybed, ta, 16th-17th century. Sold for USD 164,300 at Christie's New York, 18 September 2003, lot 20. © Christie's Images Ltd 2003

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

Lot 4076. A huanghuali recessed-leg table, pingtouan, Ming dynasty, late 16th-early 17th century, 32 in. (81.3 cm.) high, 68 in. (71.1 cm.) wide, 20 5/8 in. (52.5 cm.) deep. Estimate HKD 2,000,000 - HKD 3,000,000. Price realised HKD 3,620,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The single-panel top is set within the wide rectangular frame with a beaded edge above plain aprons and spandrels. The frame is supported on thick legs of rounded section joined by pairs of stretchers.

Provenance: Sold at Christie's New York, 16 September 1998, lot 76. 

Note: With its origins in architectural forms, the spare, economical lines of this design make it one of the classic forms of Chinese furniture. The basic proportions were adapted to make large painting tables, tables, benches and stools. This form is referred to in the Classic of Lu Ban as a 'character one' table due to its similarity in profile to the single horizontal stroke of the Chinese character for one. Several examples of this elegant form have been published. See Splendor of Style Classical Furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1999, p. 143, for a large huanghuali recessed-leg painting table of similar form, dated to the 16th or 17th century. See, also, G. Ecke, Chinese Domestic Furniture, Rutland Tokyo, 1962, pl. 46, no. 36, for another example in huanghuali. Compare, also, several similar huanghuali recessed-leg tables sold at Christie's New York 21 September 2004, lot 34; 19 September 2007, lot 131; and 17 September 2008, lot 160. A smaller huanghuali recessed-leg side table is offered in the current as lot 4072. 

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

Lot 4070. A pair of huanghuali'Southern officials hat' armchairs, nanguanmaoyi, Ming dynasty, 17th century; 46 5/8 in. (118.3 cm.) high x 24 in. (61 cm.) wide x 19 1/8 in. (48.5 cm.) deep (2). Estimate HKD 2,000,000 - HKD 3,000,000. Price realised HKD 2,180,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Each generously proportioned chair has a wide shaped crestrail centered upon a large headrest. The well-figured rectangular S-shaped backsplats are flanked by curved corner posts which extend through the rectangular seat frame enclosing a hard mat seat. The outcurved arms are supported by tapering side posts and front posts extending to the front legs. The legs are joined by curvilinear beaded aprons above long spandrels. The feet are joined by the footrest and side stretchers supported by stepped aprons.

Provenance: Acquired by the present owner in Hong Kong in the late 1980s. 

Note: Two miniature examples of yoke-back chairs, similar in construction to the full-sized examples, were excavated in 1960 from the tomb of Pan Yunzheng (1589).

Examples of continuous yoke-back chairs vary in size. Among the largest examples of this form (128 cm. high) is a pair of chairs with shaped aprons in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, illustrated in Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, pp. 52-53, no. 9.

Armchairs with Continuous Yoke Back, a pair, c. 1600, Huang-hua-li hardwood, 44 1/2 x 23 1/4 x 17 1/2 in. (113.03 x 59.06 x 44.45 cm). Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton, 91.69.1 © Minneapolis Institute of Art

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 30 May 2012, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall

Lot 4074. A rare huanghuali square corner-leg table, fangzhuo, late Ming dynasty, 17th century, 34 1/4 in. (86.7 cm.) high x 38 3/8 in. (97.6 cm.) square. Estimate HKD 800,000 - HKD 1,200,000. Price realised HKD 1,940,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The square three-panel top is set within the square frame with a thumb-grooved edge supported on cylindrical legs. The legs are joined beneath the short waist by beaded shaped aprons carved with interlocking scrolls and extending to flanged hips above the stepped stretchers.

Provenance: Acquired by the present owner in Hong Kong in the late 1980s. 

Note: The form is an adaptation of the rare convertible square 'winter-summer' tables, doubling as a low kang in winter and high dining tables in summer such as the example formerly in the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture was sold at Christie's New York, 19 September 1996, lot 43. The combination of the square upper-portion of the legs supporting the rounded lower section of the legs also adheres to the principle of the tianyuan difang (round heaven, square earth) taken from architectural designs but seen in other forms of furniture such as the pair of guanmaoyi in the present sale, lot 4073.

Lot 4072. A huanghuali recessed-leg table, pingtouan, Ming dynasty, early 17th century, 31 1/2 in. (80 cm.) high, 57 3/8 in. (145.8 cm.) wide, 18 7/8 in. (48 cm.) deep. Estimate HKD 1,800,000 - HKD 2,500,000. Price realised HKD 1,580,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The two-panel top is set within a wide rectangular frame above plain, beaded aprons and apron-head spandrels. The frame is supported on legs of rounded section joined by pairs of stretchers.

Provenance: Acquired by the present owner in Hong Kong in the early 1990s. 

Note: With its origins in architectural forms, the spare, economical lines of this design make it one of the classic forms of Chinese furniture. The basic proportions were adapted to make large painting tables, tables, benches and stools. This form is referred to in the Classic of Lu Ban as a 'character one' table due to its similarity in profile to the single horizontal stroke of the Chinese character for one. Several examples of this elegant form have been published. See Splendor of Style Classical Furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1999, p. 143, for a large huanghuali recessed-leg painting table of similar form, dated to the 16th or 17th century. See, also, G. Ecke, Chinese Domestic Furniture, Rutland Tokyo, 1962, pl. 46, no. 36, for another example in huanghuali. Compare, also, several similar huanghuali recessed-leg tables sold at Christie's New York 21 September 2004, lot 34; 19 September 2007, lot 131; and 17 September 2008, lot 160. A larger huanghuali recessed-leg table is offered in the current as lot 4076.  

Basin, Vietnam, Trân dynasty (13th – 14th century). Ivory glaze and inlaid-brown vegetal design. H. 12,30 cm – D. 30,60 cm, TG-2241 © National Museum, Tokyo

Plate, Vietnam, Lê dynasty (16th century). Buffalos painted in overglaze enamels, chocolate base. D. 34,10 cm, TG-2235 © National Museum, Tokyo

Small blue cup with splashed glaze, Northern Song dynasty, about AD 1000–1127, Jun ware, Yuxian, Henan province. Stoneware with opalescent blue and purple glazes. Height: 4,1 cm; Diameter: 8,5 cm - Diameter: 3,1 cm (base). Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, PDF 45 © Trustees of the British Museum

This cup has a lavender glaze splashed with deep purple. It was probably used for drinking alcohol and might have been used in conjunction with a stand. Where the Jun glaze runs thin towards the edge of the cup, it becomes semi-transparent to olive green. Compared to contemporary Northern Song celadons such as Ru and Yaozhou wares, Jun wares have relatively coarse stoneware bodies. Jun wares are characterised by opalescent blue, purple or occasionally green glazes. This type of cup is known as a ‘bubble bowl’. When held under an artificial light, it appears that a bubble rises up and moves around as you turn the bowl.