Chinese classical hardwood furniture popular in Hong Kong, Hong Kong launches auction special

From the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese lacquer furniture and export furniture were very popular in Europe, especially France. But from 1920 to 1940, a group of foreigners living in Beijing became interested in Chinese classical hardwood furniture and made them attract the attention of the West.

The German painter Albert von Keller (1844-1920) wrote a six-painted Chinese screen behind a young girl in a green dress in the book "Chopin" written in 1873. The picture shows the Chinese style of the 19th century in Europe. This was often seen in European paintings at the time.

In 1664, France opened an East India company in Siam to deal with merchandise trade with China. By 1699, direct trade was officially opened and the company moved to Guangdong. China has also actively catered to the needs of the European market. According to the freight records exported to French ports at the time, there were a large number of paint screens, paint cabinets and several cases in the goods. Prior to this, the Netherlands and Portugal actually imported Chinese lacquerware from the Cromando coast and other trading ports in southeastern India. A large number of "Cromando" lacquer screens in the European and American collections came from time to time.

Although the Chinese lacquer furniture and export furniture were very popular in Europe from the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, especially in France, Chinese furniture did not enter the academic research field during this period. It was only used as a family furnishings at the time by European nobility. The class loves it. Between 1920 and 1940, a group of foreigners living in Beijing became interested in Chinese classical hardwood furniture and made them attract the attention of the West. The beginning of the introduction of Chinese furniture in the West is Herbert Cesinsky's "Chinese Furniture" (1922), and the sequel to "Maurice Dupont", "China Furniture" (Les meubles de la Chine, 1926), both Each of the more than 50 pieces of Ming and Qing furniture collected by French and German collectors. Taking this as a starting point, in the following hundred years, Chinese classical furniture experienced the process of “going abroad” and “going back to China”.

In the fall of 2012, Christie's Autumn in Hong Kong launched a special auction of European and American classical Chinese furniture (Figure 1). In the past, the filming of furniture was held in New York, this is the first time to move to Hong Kong. In 2010, China Guardian [Weibo] launched a special auction of Ming-style huanghuali furniture, with a total turnover of 259 million yuan, and created a world record for several furniture items. So far, the Chinese furniture market, which has been dominated by Europe and the United States for nearly 30 years, has moved to Asia.

In this auction, there is a 12-screen screen (Fig. 2) of the Kangxi brown paint color, which is full of bed, and Kangxi Dingyi (1687) is a strong evidence of early trade. The screen is divided into twelve fans, and one side of the scene is carved into the story of the characters, describing the allusion of the "full bed" of Guo Ziyi in the Tang Dynasty. Guo Ziyi calmly determined that "Anshi's chaos" was meritorious. According to legend, when he was sixty years old, he and his friends and friends and the Manchu dynasty were full of enthusiasm. The picture shows the Guozi Yi Zhongtang seat, accepting the congratulations of everyone. The figure is surrounded by Bogu lines, and the four sides are decorated with four-clawed dragons and dragons. On the other hand, the long text of the script is written in the form of Shou character, Xianhe, and the Eight Diagrams circle, on the side and on the left and right sides of Bogu and the flower pattern.

The characters on this screen are exquisitely drawn, the layout of the building is rigorous, and the color is harmoniously matched. It is a typical design of the paint screen in the early Qing Dynasty. The inscription section is Zheng Kaiji. Zheng Kaiji (1638 ~ 1717), the word 肇修, No. a few pavilions, Fujian Houguan County (now Fuzhou) people. In the 18th year of Shunzhi, he was selected as a scholar, and he was chosen to be a teacher of the Hanlin Academy. Emperor Kangxi was succeeded to the throne and was chosen as a companion. Later, he went to Yunnan to preside over the official test, and then left Zuo Defang to study in Zhejiang, and resigned from his hometown at the age of 40. This screen is a congratulatory gift from Kangxi Dingxi (1687), which he co-signed with 30 local bureaucrats. This screen may have been exported to overseas private collectors in the early days. In 1999, there was an auction record in New York.

During the Louis XIII period in the early 17th century, Chinese lacquerware and porcelain were found in the famous art collections of French Prime Minister and Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642), which were from China and the Netherlands in the late Ming Dynasty. Portuguese East India trading company trades into Europe and works. At the end of the 17th century, Louis XIV and the Kangxi dynasty also began to interact with each other: the French monarchs wanted to carry out scientific and cultural exchanges with China to promote political and commercial interests in China; the Chinese emperor was keen to master European art and Science & Technology. In 1670, the Trianon de Porcelain of Versailles was officially completed, making it the earliest Chinese style building in the West. In 1695, the Jesuit missionaries began to conduct scientific research in the Forbidden City. One example was the flat and mirror glass factory in Guangzhou. In 1699, the court recruited a group of skilled craftsmen to help the Jesuit priests set up a court in Beijing. Made of glass. The glass process has gradually improved in the hands of Chinese artisans, and it is said that its finished products are still better than Western glass. In the last year of Kangxi's reign (AD 1722), the Qing court gave glass gifts to the Pope, the Russian tsars and the Portuguese kings, and the gifts received by the King of Portugal also had palace lanterns.