17TH CENTURY

Easily transportable and less formal than armchairs, side chairs would have been made in sets and placed against the wall, easily accessible when required yet slim enough in profile to prevent overcrowding of an interior space. Ming-dynasty prints frequently depict side chairs used in a variety of settings, including in private rooms, landscaped gardens, and in formal reception spaces.

The presence of humpback stretchers and struts below the seat on the present pair is an elegant variant from the more commonly seen plain apron and spandrels. A huanghuali side chair, constructed with humpback stretchers and vertical struts below the seat, is illustrated by R. H. Ellsworth in Chinese Hardwood Furniture in Hawaiian Collections, Honolulu, 1982, p. 57, pl. 36, where it is dated to the 17th century. A similar huanghuali lamphanger side chair, with plain apron and spandrels, dated to the late 17th century is illustrated by R. Jacobsen and N. Grindley in Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Chicago, 1999, p. 54, pl. 10. Another huanghuali side chair, with extended crestrail, is illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 38, no. A56.