Ming and Qing Imperial Furniture

The furniture of the Forbidden City lends us both a personal connection to the Chinese Imperial Court and an opportunity to become party to the visually stunning interiors in which its members lived. Two recent and lavishly illustrated publications on the subject are currently in stock:

Classics of the Forbidden City: Imperial Furniture of Ming and Qing Dynasties. Beijing: 2008. 355 pages, colour plates throughout. Cloth in a slipcase. 30 x 30cms. Wide ranging catalogue of approximately 360 items from huanghuali tables and chairs to lacquered cabinets, screens, stands and beds. Also includes around 20 photographs of interiors of the Forbidden City showing the present-day arrangement of the furniture.  Text in Chinese.£ 72.00

Forbidden City Collection: Ming Style Furniture in the Palace Museum. Beijing: 2011. 294 pages, numerous colour plates throughout. Cloth in a slipcase. 30 x 30cms. Catalogue of 198 magnificent pieces of huanghuali, zitan and lacquered furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties formally of the Imperial household.  Text in Chinese.£ 86.00For those in search of more provincial pieces the following beautifully produced volume may be of use:

Liu, Chuansheng: Classical Chinese Lacquered Furniture. Beijing: 2013. 360 pp., colour plates throughout. Cloth in a slipcase, 33.5 x 25.5cms. 67 lacquered chairs, tables, cabinets, chests and screens from the 16th to 18th centuries, deriving from Beijing and Shanxi (with a few earlier examples).  Text in Chinese with English summary. £ 98.00To order any of the above please email artbooks@heneage.com.