18TH/19TH CENTURY

Archaistic decoration on furniture, which often included the addition of rope-tied bi discs, was quite popular under the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, who was an enthusiastic collector of antiques. Because the form was so popular, decoration of this type continued throughout the late 18th and into the 19th centuries. Compare very similar decoration to that seen on the present chair found on a square zitan stool, dated to the mid-Qing dynasty, in the Forbidden City, illustrated in Ming Qing Gongting Jiaju Da Guan, Beijing, 2006, p. 139, no. 126.