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Lot Essay
Although the 'four corners exposed' armchair is one of the earliest and classic forms found in huanghuali furniture design, it is very rare to find the supporting braces and the elegant and simple lines of the straight legs such as on the present chair.
Several variations of this type are known, including those with rounded or cut-off squared members, those with carved splats, and those with added decorative carving or embellishment.
Curtis Evarts:
Although the chair constructed with a waisted base was a common Qing-style form, only a few surviving examples of Ming-style hardwood chairs are known. Nonetheless, depictions of such chairs in Song and Yuan paintings as well as Ming period book illustrations reveal a style that was once not so uncommon. The present large yokeback chair in the Tseng Collection is a rare example of a waisted Ming-style pattern that has survived.
The upper half of the Tseng Collection chair is constructed as a traditional yoke-back armchair. The wide backrest is fitted with a sizable Dali marble panel that is richly patterned with landscape scenery. The four legs of the waisted base terminate with horse-hoof feet, and are reinforced with giant’s arm braces. An identical mate to the Tseng Collection chair, located in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art collection, is also fitted with a similarly patterned marble panel (fig. 1). These two chairs were originally a pair.
Other huanghuali examples of similar construction are also now known, including a group of chairs with C-curved legs from the Zhong Shu Tang Collection (fig. 2). Both examples display innovative refinement in the long history of Chinese furniture. Inspired from earlier Song and Yuan forms, they exhibit the streamlining and simplification that characterizes Ming-style hardwood furniture yet retain the dignity and grandeur of earlier forms that are now obsolete. The painterly quality of the figured marble panels in the Tseng Collection and Nelson-Atkins separated pair of chairs also display the distinct element of literati taste.
Several variations of this type are known, including those with rounded or cut-off squared members, those with carved splats, and those with added decorative carving or embellishment.
Curtis Evarts:
Although the chair constructed with a waisted base was a common Qing-style form, only a few surviving examples of Ming-style hardwood chairs are known. Nonetheless, depictions of such chairs in Song and Yuan paintings as well as Ming period book illustrations reveal a style that was once not so uncommon. The present large yokeback chair in the Tseng Collection is a rare example of a waisted Ming-style pattern that has survived.
The upper half of the Tseng Collection chair is constructed as a traditional yoke-back armchair. The wide backrest is fitted with a sizable Dali marble panel that is richly patterned with landscape scenery. The four legs of the waisted base terminate with horse-hoof feet, and are reinforced with giant’s arm braces. An identical mate to the Tseng Collection chair, located in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art collection, is also fitted with a similarly patterned marble panel (fig. 1). These two chairs were originally a pair.
Other huanghuali examples of similar construction are also now known, including a group of chairs with C-curved legs from the Zhong Shu Tang Collection (fig. 2). Both examples display innovative refinement in the long history of Chinese furniture. Inspired from earlier Song and Yuan forms, they exhibit the streamlining and simplification that characterizes Ming-style hardwood furniture yet retain the dignity and grandeur of earlier forms that are now obsolete. The painterly quality of the figured marble panels in the Tseng Collection and Nelson-Atkins separated pair of chairs also display the distinct element of literati taste.