Details
A RARE HUANGHUALI AND HARDWOOD FOLDING HORSESHOEBACK
ARMCHAIR, YUANHOUBEI JIAOYI
LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY
The bowed crest rail terminating in scrolled hand rests, joined by turned wood posts to the rounded elbow of the continuous front leg tongue-and-grooved along the underside with shaped flanges, with a reticulated back splat carved and pierced with a bat suspending a chime amidst clouds in the upper panel and scrolled dragons flanking a shou character in the lower, the front seat stretcher carved with a pair of dragons confronted on another shou character and the rectangular foot-rest applied with a central plaque of three conjoined lozenges and corner spandrels, raised on a shaped apron above a plain stretcher repeated in back, with further brass mounts of strap form throughout, the X-form legs beveled along the inner edges above and below the pivot hinge, soft cane seat, some restorations--42in. (106.7cm.) high; seat 26 1/4in. (66.5cm.) wide and 18 1/4in. (46.3cm.) deep
ARMCHAIR, YUANHOUBEI JIAOYI
LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY
The bowed crest rail terminating in scrolled hand rests, joined by turned wood posts to the rounded elbow of the continuous front leg tongue-and-grooved along the underside with shaped flanges, with a reticulated back splat carved and pierced with a bat suspending a chime amidst clouds in the upper panel and scrolled dragons flanking a shou character in the lower, the front seat stretcher carved with a pair of dragons confronted on another shou character and the rectangular foot-rest applied with a central plaque of three conjoined lozenges and corner spandrels, raised on a shaped apron above a plain stretcher repeated in back, with further brass mounts of strap form throughout, the X-form legs beveled along the inner edges above and below the pivot hinge, soft cane seat, some restorations--42in. (106.7cm.) high; seat 26 1/4in. (66.5cm.) wide and 18 1/4in. (46.3cm.) deep
Provenance
Frederick Mueller
Museum of Classic Furniture, Renaissance, California
Museum of Classic Furniture, Renaissance, California
Literature
Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, 1970, col. pl. 26
Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, 1990, Vol. II, A92
Although folding armchairs are rare, a number are in public collections, including the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, illustrated in the Handbook of the Collections, vol. II, p. 95; in Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, pl. 27 and Wang Shixiang, Connoissuership of Chinese Furniture, II, A91; Royal Ontario Museum, Chinese Furniture, ibid., Vol. II, pl. 28; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, discussed in a monograph by Wu Tung, 'From Imported Nomadic Seat to Chinese Folding Armchair'; Pacific Asia Museum; and a carved cinnabar lacquer example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Chinese Lacquer, pl. 82
Other examples in private collections are illustrated in Connoisseurship, op. cit., pl. A90 and A93, and in Michel Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture, pl. 105
Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, 1990, Vol. II, A92
Although folding armchairs are rare, a number are in public collections, including the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, illustrated in the Handbook of the Collections, vol. II, p. 95; in Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, pl. 27 and Wang Shixiang, Connoissuership of Chinese Furniture, II, A91; Royal Ontario Museum, Chinese Furniture, ibid., Vol. II, pl. 28; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, discussed in a monograph by Wu Tung, 'From Imported Nomadic Seat to Chinese Folding Armchair'; Pacific Asia Museum; and a carved cinnabar lacquer example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Chinese Lacquer, pl. 82
Other examples in private collections are illustrated in Connoisseurship, op. cit., pl. A90 and A93, and in Michel Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture, pl. 105