The collection and study of Ming furniture began in the 1930s and 40s among foreign residents in Beijing. At that time modernism was on the rise in the West as a reaction against the over-elaborate decoration which still persisted from the Victorian era.
明式傢具的收藏與研究始於三、四十年代客居北京的外國僑民，當時的西方現代主義興起，反叛維多利亞時期繁飾縟節的遺風。