A pair of huanghuali octagonal incense stands (xiangji), Late Ming-Early Qing dynasty, 17th century. Estimate 60,000 — 80,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
each with an octagonal floating panel set within a molded frame formed by eight straight segments, above a high waist divided into eight plain panels extending to wide lappet-form scalloped aprons with outlined edges, supported on four slender cabriole legs terminating in slipper feet set into an ingot-shaped base raised on four low bracket feet (2). Height 34 3/4 in., 88.3 cm; Width 18 in., 45.7 cm; Depth 18 in., 45.7 cm
Property of the Zihanxuan collection
Provenance: Acquired from a private family collection in Canada in the 1980s.
Bibliography: Philip Mak, "Chinese Wooden Tables," Arts of Asia, vol. 41, no. 2, March-April 2011, pp. 91-106, pl. 44.
Notes: In addition to serving as supports for censers, incense stands also functioned as platforms to display antiques, scholar's rocks and floral arrangements. In the famous treatise Zunsheng Bajian (Discourse on the Art of Living) by the 17th century dramatist Gao Lian, the author comments specifically on the form, describing a variety of sizes and forms. Regarding the taller forms such as the present, Gao comments, "They can be used for displaying stones or strange rocks, a platter of citrus fruit, a vase filled with flowers or a single incense burning censer. This is the use of the high stand."
There appears to be only one other known example of this unusual form and it is illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. B 31. The stand, noted as belonging to the author, is illustrated again in Wang Shixiang, Classic Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 75 and he remarks on the interesting form and its taller than average height concluding, "Its form is rather novel, and I have not seen another stand like it."(ibid. p. 279) The present pair are of a more standard height and therefore of slightly different proportion to the example now in the Shanghai Museum but clearly constitute another example of this elegant form.
Sotheby's. Monochrome, New York, 15 sept. 2015