QING DYNASTY, 18TH-19TH CENTURY

An Imperial throne setting includes five elements of furniture: the throne, the pair of incense stands, the foot stool, the pair of fan holders, and the screen. This suite of furniture created a platform upon which the emperor would be seen by his subjects and embodied the ultimate symbol of imperial power. Their production was highly regulated in terms of size, decoration and the materials used. Placed centrally in an Imperial hall, every throne setting had to create an imposing scene by being majestic in scale, constructed of the finest and rarest materials, and of the highest possible workmanship. The complex construction of the current throne, combining superbly carved zitan wood, gilt-lacquer panels intricately painted with dragons, and graceful scrolling rails, is a fine testament to the exacting standards expected from an Imperial throne.

The elegant lotus scroll on the apron and the graceful upturned leaf-form feet found on the present throne are closely related to that found on another zitan throne in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Ming Qing Gongting Jiaju Da Guan, Beijing, 2006, pl. 56, where it is dated to the mid-Qing dynasty. Like the Palace example, the present throne would likely have been set into a base stretcher for additional support. The high-relief carving of coiling dragons can also be compared to a carved zitan throne, also dating to the 18th-19th century, formerly in the C. Ruxton and Audrey B. Love Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 20 October 2004, lot 315.

It is also interesting to compare the similarity between the painted and gilt dragons on the exterior rails of the present throne with those found on an Imperial throne in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, illustrated by R. Jacobsen and N. Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, no. 20.