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Important Winter Sale 661 Stockholm11451147
1146
1599666

A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.

A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.
Estimate
8 000 - 10 000 SEK
711 - 889 EUR
734 - 917 USD
Bidding requires special pre approval.
Purchasing info
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For condition report contact specialist
Cecilia Nordström
Stockholm
Cecilia Nordström
Senior specialist Asian Ceramics and Works of Art, European Ceramics and Glass
+46 (0)739 40 08 02
→ Sell with Bukowskis
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A spotted bamboo table, Qing dynasty late 18th century.

Hexagonal shape, rattan top, the legs and feet connected by stretchers. Diameter 25 cm. Height 49.5 cm.

Wear, damages.

Provenance

Johan Abraham Grill (1736-1792)

The table is recorded in his estate inventory at Godegård in the "Great Guest Room" along with the "sofa chair," which was sold at Bukowskis evening auction in 1985, A435, lot 29: "A small table for placing a washbasin on of do [bamboo].

Thereafter by descent.

Having returned in 1769, after successful years in China, Grill subsequently became a director of the East India Company. In 1775, he realised his wish for an ironworks by acquiring the Godegård estate with its works, the largest in northern Östergötland.

Literature

Svenska Slott och Herresäten, Östergötland, Band III, Chapter about Godegård, Stockholm 1934. The chair mentioned above can be seen in the photograph of the "Chinese room", Page 33.

Since the Tang dynasty, so-called spotted bamboo, with its naturally occurring dark spots, has been highly sought after for the beauty of the random coloring and patterning of the markings. These subtle and painterly markings occur under specific growing conditions, difficult to replicate and found only in nature, thus making spotted bamboo more rare than other varieties. By the Ming dynasty, this type of spotted, or speckled, bamboo was being used for furnishings of various types and this continued in the early Qing period when furniture and other furnishings made of spotted bamboo were popular and considered at the height of fashion in the Imperial palace.

A series of twelve court paintings, entitled Twelve Beauties in the Yuanmingyuan, now in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing and dating to the Kangxi period (1709-1723) depict twelve elegant ladies in their sumptuous Imperial apartments, their clothing is fashionable and the furnishings are sophisticated and textured. Three of the twelve paintings show interior spaces furnished with spotted bamboo furniture. From this series, Woman Looking at Antiquities shows a beautiful woman seated in a lowback spotted bamboo armchair. A second painting, Woman Holding a Gourd depicts a lithe woman dressed in gossamer blue robes leaning against a square table constructed in spotted bamboo and fitted with a black lacquer top. A large spotted bamboo, gilt decorated lacquer kang table, dating to the Qing period (1664-1911), in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing and illustrated The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, vol. 54, Hong Kong, p. 166, pl. 148 may have served as the inspiration for the table seen in the painting Woman Holding a Gourd.

More information

In China, bamboo has traditionally held a place of significance within literati culture. Together with the flowering plum and pine, they form the ‘Three Friends of Winter’ for their ability to withstand the cold and remain green. Upright and sturdy, yet easily bending with the wind, bamboo came to signify moral integrity among the literati elite, and has served as a constant source of inspiration for poets and painters, alike.

When compared to their hardwood counterparts in huanghuali and zitan, relatively few examples of bamboo furniture have survived. The material is less durable than hardwoods, and abundant enough that replacements could be easily made. To make a piece of furniture in bamboo, lengths of bamboo were steamed and softened until pliable and bent around a frame. This construction technique inspired examples in huanghuali seen in wraparound stretchers, round legs, circular struts, members carved to imitate nodes of bamboo, and continuous arms.