Formerly the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture Collection
In this landmark sale — arguably the most important collection of Chinese furniture to appear at auction in the 20th century — Christie’s New York offered more than 100 works from the Museum of Classical Chinese furniture in Renaissance, California. The museum no longer exists, but the sale of its treasures — with some items fetching 10 times the pre-sale estimates — helped to establish classical Chinese furniture as a mature international collecting category.
Leading the sale was a seven-foot-high 17th-century floor screen made of elaborately carved, pierced and fretworked huanghuali and tielimu wood, with a slab of dali marble — the veining of which resembles a moutain range — at its centre. Now at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the screen achieved $1.1 million, then the highest price realised at auction for any piece of Chinese furniture. A further highlight, a 17th-century huanghuali yokeback armchair (below), sold for $140,000 — four times its high estimate.
Classical Chinese furniture — 20 years of great collections
The finest collections of Classical Chinese furniture for more than 20 years. Here, we look at five sales that have helped to create today’s thriving market
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