Lot Essay
Compare the pair of similar stools from the Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Piccus Collection of Classical Chinese Furniture sold in these rooms, 18 September 1997, lot 29. These differ slightly in the carving of the seat frames and style and material of the metal mounts.
To date, only four huanghuali examples of this type of stool have been recorded, including the present example. Wang Shixiang illustrates one from the Tianjin Museum of Art in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, vol. II, p. 32, fig. A42.
The stools appear to be related to a group of folding horseshoeback armchairs with similar construction and iron damascene mounts. Two folding armchairs are in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City and in the Cheng Mengjia Collection, Beijing, both illustrated by Sarah Handler, 'The Elegant Vagabond: The Chinese Folding Chair', in Chinese Furniture: Selected Articles from Orientations, pp. 146-152. The third, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu quanji; gongyi meishu bian; zhumu ya jiaoqi (The Great Treasury of Chinese Fine Arts; Arts and Crafts; Objects of Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Horn), vol. 11, p. 127. A fourth, illustrated by Wang, et. al., Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, pp. 47-48, no. 3, was sold in these rooms 19 September 1996, lot 50; a fifth sold at Sotheby's, New York 19 September 1996, lot 311. See, also, the example belonging to a closely related group with brass or baitong fittings, formerly in the collection of Mrs. Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, lot 32 in the present sale.
Compare, also, the simpler versions of these stools with a similar footrest but a woven seat and no vertical supporting member, illustrated by Robert Ellsworth, Nicholas Grindley and Anita Christy, Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, pp. 42-43, no. I; by Grace Wu Bruce, Chinese Classical Furniture, p. 10, fig. 10; and from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, sold in these rooms, 19 September 1996, lot 95.
Although the present type does not fold as flat, it is considerably stronger, which perhaps supports the idea that these stools were also used to mount and dismount horses as suggested by Chen Zengbi, 'A Unique Stool for Mounting Horses', JCCFS, Autumn 1992, pp. 51-53.
For a history of the folding stool in China, refer to Wang et al., Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, p. 30. See, also, Wu Tung, 'From Imported ''Nomadic Seat'' to Chinese Folding Armchair', JCCFS, Spring 1993, pp. 38-47.
To date, only four huanghuali examples of this type of stool have been recorded, including the present example. Wang Shixiang illustrates one from the Tianjin Museum of Art in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, vol. II, p. 32, fig. A42.
The stools appear to be related to a group of folding horseshoeback armchairs with similar construction and iron damascene mounts. Two folding armchairs are in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City and in the Cheng Mengjia Collection, Beijing, both illustrated by Sarah Handler, 'The Elegant Vagabond: The Chinese Folding Chair', in Chinese Furniture: Selected Articles from Orientations, pp. 146-152. The third, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu quanji; gongyi meishu bian; zhumu ya jiaoqi (The Great Treasury of Chinese Fine Arts; Arts and Crafts; Objects of Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Horn), vol. 11, p. 127. A fourth, illustrated by Wang, et. al., Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, pp. 47-48, no. 3, was sold in these rooms 19 September 1996, lot 50; a fifth sold at Sotheby's, New York 19 September 1996, lot 311. See, also, the example belonging to a closely related group with brass or baitong fittings, formerly in the collection of Mrs. Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, lot 32 in the present sale.
Compare, also, the simpler versions of these stools with a similar footrest but a woven seat and no vertical supporting member, illustrated by Robert Ellsworth, Nicholas Grindley and Anita Christy, Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, pp. 42-43, no. I; by Grace Wu Bruce, Chinese Classical Furniture, p. 10, fig. 10; and from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, sold in these rooms, 19 September 1996, lot 95.
Although the present type does not fold as flat, it is considerably stronger, which perhaps supports the idea that these stools were also used to mount and dismount horses as suggested by Chen Zengbi, 'A Unique Stool for Mounting Horses', JCCFS, Autumn 1992, pp. 51-53.
For a history of the folding stool in China, refer to Wang et al., Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, p. 30. See, also, Wu Tung, 'From Imported ''Nomadic Seat'' to Chinese Folding Armchair', JCCFS, Spring 1993, pp. 38-47.