A RARE HUANGHUALI FOLDING AND RECLINING ARMCHAIR WITH MARBLE PANELS, JIAOYISHI TANGYI

Details

A RARE HUANGHUALI FOLDING AND RECLINING ARMCHAIR WITH MARBLE PANELS, JIAOYISHI TANGYI
17TH CENTURY

The toprail attached by 'pipe joints' to the back frame continuing to the back legs, the inside upper corners with small-inward curving hooks, the top of the back frame divided by two struts into three rectangles containing cartouches inlaid with black-veined white dali marble, the slender, slightly curving armrests supported on the back legs with curvilinear flanges on the inner crook, the pairs of hinged legs attached by seat stretchers, and foot stretchers of triangular section, the headrest a replacement
39 3/4in. (101cm.) high, 28 3/8in. (72cm.) wide, 36¼in. (92cm.) deep

Literature

Wang Shixiang, "Additional Examples of Classical Chinese Furniture", Orientations, January 1992, p. 42, no. 4 and front cover
Sarah Handler, "The Elegant Vagabond: The Chinese Folding Armchair", Orientations, January 1992, p. 96, fig. 15
Curtis Evarts, "Ornamental Stone Panels and Chinese Furniture", JCCFS, Spring 1994, p. 23, fig. 22, front and back covers
Grace Wu Bruce, Chinese Classical Furniture, fig. 9
Wang et al., Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, p. 76, no. 36

Lot Essay

Square-back folding chairs are extremely rare and no other examples in huanghuali of this particular design appear to exist

For an example in black lacquer in the Nanjing Museum with straight arms and a long curved rectangular headrest, see Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, vol. II, p. 57, A96

Refer, also, to the hanging scroll by Qiu Ying (?-1552) in the Shanghai Museum, entitled Studio amid the Wutong Tree and Bamboo Grove, depicting a scholar resting in a similar reclining armchair, which is illustrated by Xie Zhiliu et al., Four Masters of the Ming Dynasty, no. 87