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Lot Essay
See C. Clunas, Chinese Furniture, London, 1988, pp. 22-3, for a discussion on the development and construction of the southern official's hat armchair, where the author notes that such high chairs "have retained to this century in Chinese culture something of the connotations of status and authority with which their origins were associated."
Many chairs of this form may be found in public and private collections, and as with horseshoeback armchairs, the examples differ in the amount of carved decoration on the splat and aprons. A chair of this type, with plain splat and uncarved apron, is illustrated by R.H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, New York, 1971, pp. 112-3, figs. 5 and 5a. On p. 114, Ellsworth notes that this form is alternatively called a "continuous yoke-back armchair" for the visually pleasing wayan daiguo "pipe-joints" that fluidly join the crestrail and armrests.
Many chairs of this form may be found in public and private collections, and as with horseshoeback armchairs, the examples differ in the amount of carved decoration on the splat and aprons. A chair of this type, with plain splat and uncarved apron, is illustrated by R.H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, New York, 1971, pp. 112-3, figs. 5 and 5a. On p. 114, Ellsworth notes that this form is alternatively called a "continuous yoke-back armchair" for the visually pleasing wayan daiguo "pipe-joints" that fluidly join the crestrail and armrests.