17TH CENTURY

Details

A Huanghuali Official's Hat Armchair, Guanmaoyi
17th Century
Probably a sedan chair, with the shaped toprail terminating in protruding rounded ends supported on the gently curved upper extensions of the rear legs, the arms continuing in an elegant S-curve above the goose-neck posts with shaped spandrels, the plain well-figured backsplat with a gentle curve, the square soft cane seat set in a mitered frame above a plain apron and apron-head spandrels supported on round legs joined at the front by a stepped stretcher below the footrest and at the sides and back with round stretchers
39in. (99.1cm.) high, 20½in. (52.1cm.) wide, 20in. (50.8cm.) deep, seat 18in. (45.7cm.) high

Lot Essay

Compare the similar chair illustrated by R.H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, New York, 1971 p. 108, figs. 1 and 1a. See, also, the example sold in these rooms, 18 September 1997, lot 72, The Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Piccus Collection of Fine Classical Chinese Furniture.

The relatively low seat height and wide seat of the present example, providing a low center of gravity, indicates it was probably intended as a sedan chair to be carried on a litter-like framework. This arrangement is illustrated by Ellsworth, op cit., p. 31, figs. 16 and 17.

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