17TH CENTURY

The ‘official’s hat’ or yokeback armchair, particularly the ‘four corners-exposed’ type of the present example, is among the most powerful and monumental forms of classical Chinese furniture. The tall and supportive curved splat and elongated S-shaped arms encourage the sitter to sit in an upright regal posture, and the protruding curved crestrail with rounded ends behind the sitter’s head also adds an imposing effect.

A similar armchair dated to the seventeenth century, and also with arm rails supported on single curved tapering vertical posts, is illustrated by Wang and Evarts, Masterpieces From the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, p. 48. A taller example, also with set back curved front posts, was sold at Christie’s New York, 25 September 2020, lot 1645.