A RARE HUANGHUALI CONTINUOUS ARM YOKEBACK ARMCHAIR, GUANMAOYI

LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE HUANGHUALI CONTINUOUS ARM YOKEBACK ARMCHAIR, GUANMAOYI
Late 16th/Early 17th Century
The "official's hat" armchair with crested toprail terminating in backward projecting ends and supported by a plain S-curved rectangular splat flanked by similarly curved slender upper extensions of the rear legs forming the corner posts, the sinuous arms supported on the tapered S-curved side posts and continuing directly to the front posts, the rectangular seat frame with "ice-plate" edge and enclosing a soft mat above the slightly splayed top joined by plain aprons with long spandrels and base by stepped-back stretchers and footrest, the reddish-blond wood unusually well figured
47¼in. (120cm.) high, 23¾in. (60cm.) wide, 17¾in. (45.5cm) deep

Literature

Curtis Evarts, ''Classical Chinese Furniture in the Piccus Collection'', JCCFS, Autumn 1992, p. 12, fig. 12

Sarah Handler, ''A Yokeback Chair for Sitting Tall'', JCCFS, Spring 1993, p. 15, fig. 20

Lot Essay

The continuous arms in the context of a protruding crest rail is
unusual, although similar examples are known. Compare those illustrated by Robert Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, p. 115, figs. 7 and 7a; by Nicholas Grindley, ''The Bended Back Chair'', JCCFS, Winter 1991,
p. 56; and by Pu Anguo, ''Discussion about Ming-style Furniture, Two
Subjects'', JCCFS, Autumn 1992, pp. 26-35, figs. 3, 5, 7. For a discussion of this unusual form, see p.