A FINE PAIR OF ZITAN HORSESHOEBACK ARMCHAIRS, QUANYI

LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

A FINE PAIR OF ZITAN HORSESHOEBACK ARMCHAIRS, QUANYI
Late 17th/Early 18th Century
Each curving toprail made in five parts using half-lap pressure peg joints with exposed tenons and terminating with a curved hook beyond the 'goose-neck' side and front corner posts above shaped and beaded spandrels, the curved backsplat with an ogival panel carved in relief with a chilong dragon, the back corner posts continuing through the mitred frame of the soft-mat seat to form the back legs, the front legs enclosing an arching apron carved in medium relief with confronted chilong and tendrils extending from the beading, the side aprons with tendrils, the shaped back apron uncarved, braced by stepped stretchers and footrest with concealed tenons, the characteristically heavy wood with dark feathery graining
39in. (100.5cm.) high, 26in. (68cm.) wide, 24in. (61cm.) deep (2)

Lot Essay

It is rare to find pairs of zitan horseshoeback armchairs and, though often found on other forms, it is rarer still to find examples having aprons carved with dragons, rather than tendrils or left plain. Compare other zitan examples, variously with plain or more simply carved aprons illustrated by My Humble House, Zitan, The Most Noble Hardwood, pp. 39-41; and by Nancy Berliner in Beyond the Screen: Chinese Furniture of the 16th and 17th Centuries, p. 113, no. 11, also dated 17th/18th Century. A pair of similar huanghuali chairs, from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, was sold in these rooms, 19 September 1996, lot 99, again having aprons carved with tendrils only.