17TH-18TH CENTURY

The 'southern official's hat' armchair differs from the official's hat armchair in that its crest rail continues into the back rails as opposed to extending beyond them. The present chair has the added unusual feature of spandrels beneath the crest rail and below the arms. A chair of this type is illustrated by Sarah Handler in Ming Furniture in the Light of Chinese Architecture, Berkeley, 2005, p. 117. Another example with a burl-inset backsplat, dated to the 17th/early 18th century, is illustrated by M. Flacks, Classical Chinese Furniture: a very personal point of view, London, 2011, p. 50.