LATE MING/EARLY QING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE HUANGHUALI LOW-BACK ARMCHAIR, FUSHOUYI
LATE MING/EARLY QING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY
The elegantly curved top rail is carved with high, rounded corners that continue to the curving back posts and extend through the frame of a mat seat to form the rear legs. The back posts are joined by a low horizontal back panel carved in openwork with two playful confronted dragons flanking lingzhi fungus above a beaded curvilinear apron with entwining leafy tendrils. Below each elongated S-shaped arm is a stretcher of conforming shape. The legs are joined on the front and sides by beaded curvilinear aprons that continue to form the spandrels.
37 5/8 in. (95.5 cm.) high, 22¼ in. (56.5 cm.) wide, 17 7/8 in. (45.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

Sydney Moss Ltd., London, 1985.

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Lot Essay

What appears to be the identical pair to the present chair, formerly in the Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection, was sold at Christie's New York, 20 September 2002, lot 31, and published by G. Wu Bruce, Dreams of Chu Tan Chamber and Romance with Huanghuali Wood: The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, Hong Kong, 1991, pp. 36-37, no. 8 (and front cover). The author notes that the Dr. Yip chair, and by extension the present example, is unique because all other chairs of this period have vertical backsplats, with the exception of rose chairs, but the curved toprail and elongated S-shaped arms are not found on rose chairs of this period.

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