Lot Essay
A similar example is illustrated by Robert Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, p. 108, figs. 1 and 1a. Compare, also, the example with twin side stretchers and a longer shaped apron illustrated by Gustav Ecke, Chinese Domestic Furniture, p. 102, fig. 80
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. Robert Ellsworth illustrates the arrangement in Chinese Furniture, p. 31, figs. 16 and 17. Illustrations as well as records from the early Qing Imperial Workshops indicate that low chairs were also used for seating in small boats. See Zhu Jiajin and Wang Shixiang, Zhongguo meishu quanji; Gongyi meishu bian (The Great Treasury of Chinese Fine Arts; Arts and Crafts), vol. 11, Beijing, 1987, p. 110
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. Robert Ellsworth illustrates the arrangement in Chinese Furniture, p. 31, figs. 16 and 17. Illustrations as well as records from the early Qing Imperial Workshops indicate that low chairs were also used for seating in small boats. See Zhu Jiajin and Wang Shixiang, Zhongguo meishu quanji; Gongyi meishu bian (The Great Treasury of Chinese Fine Arts; Arts and Crafts), vol. 11, Beijing, 1987, p. 110