A RARE JICHIMU CONTINUOUS ARM HORSESHOEBACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI

LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE JICHIMU CONTINUOUS ARM HORSESHOEBACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI
Late 17th/Early 18th Century
The curving toprail supported by long, slender side posts, sloping down to meet the front posts at "pipe-joints", the curved backsplat a plain, unadorned panel with characteristic feathery grain and flanked by the upper extensions of the rear legs forming the rear corner posts above the rectangular seat frame enclosing the original, patterned soft mat above legs joined by stepped stretchers and straight beaded aprons with long spandrels
33 3/8in. (85.5cm.) high, 21¼in. (54cm.) wide, 17 5/8in. (45cm.) deep

Literature

Curtis Evarts, ''Classical Chinese Furniture in the Piccus Collection,'' JCCFS, Autumn 1992, p. 16, fig. 18 and 18a

Lot Essay

The three-piece armrests are assembled with a unique variation of the half-lap pressure-peg joint with blind tenons. Here, pressure pegs are set at an angle to impart direct bilateral compression to draw the mated surfaces together. For an illustrated discussion of half-lap pressure-peg joints, see pp.

A set of four chairs with a similar construction is illustrated by Wang et al., Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, p. 60, no. 28; by Sarah Handler, "Classical Chinese Furniture in the Renaissance Collection", Orientations, January 1991, p. 48, figs. 10 and 10b; and by Curtis Evarts, "Continuous Horseshoe Arms and Half-Lapped Pressure-Peg Joins", JCCFS, Spring 1991, p. 15, fig. 2, front and back covers, and sold in these rooms September 19, 1996, lot 41

The present example retains a traditional soft-cane seat made of finely split cane woven directly onto the seat frame