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 flush to 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 line drawing of a side chair, with square-member humpback stretchers and vertical struts, is illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 38, no. A53. A pair of huanghuali side chairs of this identical design was sold at Christie’s New York, 25 September 2020, lot 1651.