18TH CENTURY

While examples of horseshoe-back armchairs are readily known, one of the rarest variations of the form is the continuous rail horseshoe-back armchair. The design of these very rare chairs was inspired by bamboo furniture. The elegantly shaped crestrail and rounded members were carved to simulate the bamboo furniture construction technique of bending long stalks of bamboo using steam or heat. The abundance of bamboo made it popular among the lower classes, as a cost-effective and more easily portable alternative to the more luxurious hardwood furniture. Known bamboo-inspired examples in huanghuali include a pair formerly in the Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, sold at Christie’s New York, 17 March 2015, lot 47 and a single example formerly in the Flacks Family Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 16 September 2016, lot 1105 and illustrated by M. Flacks in Classical Chinese Furniture: A Very Personal Point of View, London, 2011, pp. 59-63.

Refer to Ronald W. Longsdorf, "Chinese Bamboo Furniture, Its Influence on Hardwood Furniture Design," Orientations, January 1994, pp.76-83, where the author discusses the features of bamboo furniture carried over to hardwood forms, such as rounded members, 'wrap-around' stretchers, 'stacked' stretchers and the use of closely placed vertical struts.

A pair of zitan continuous horseshoe-back armchairs of similar construction and design are illustrated by My Humble House, Zitan, The Most Noble Hardwood, Taiwan, 1996, pp. 42-3. Two pairs of zitan continuous horseshoe-back armchairs are illustrated by R. H. Ellsworth in Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, vol. 1, pp. 80-1, no. 20 and vol. II, pp. 38-9, no. 14.