17TH CENTURY

Details

A HUANGHUALI 'OFFICIAL'S HAT' ARMCHAIR, GUANMAOYI
17TH CENTURY
The chair is constructed from huanghuali and has a shaped crestrail supported by the elegant S-shaped splat finely carved with a ruyi medallion and the curved rear posts which continue to form the back legs. The arm rails are supported on slender standing stiles and extend beyond the front posts. The rectangular frame encloses a mat seat above shaped, beaded aprons carved with floral scroll and beaded spandrels. The legs are of round section and are joined by stepped stretchers and a foot rest, below plain aprons and spandrels. Together with matching jichimu chair, 19th-20th century.
Huanghuali armchair: 46 ½ in. (118.2 cm.) high, 22 1/8 in. (56.2 cm.) wide, 19 ½ in. (49.5 cm.) deep; jichimu armchair: 46 ¼ in. (117.6 cm.) high, 22 in. (55.9 cm.) wide, 19 ½ in. (49.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

Mr. and Mrs. Franklin F. Kuo Collection, Hawaii.

Literature

R.H. Ellsworth, Chinese Hardwood Furniture in Hawaiian Collections, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1982, no. 38.

Lot Essay

These two unusual chairs were previously combined, probably in the early 20th century, to form a pair of chairs made of mixed huanghuali and jichimu or tielimu timber. When one of the two chairs was published by R.H. Ellsworth in 1982, it was described as ‘a high yokeback armchair made from two different kinds of rosewood’. Since the time it was published, it has subsequently been established that the pair was actually two chairs, one in huanghuali and the other in jichimu, that had been combined to create a pair of chairs featuring an interesting combination of contrasting woods.

More from Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

View All