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Lot Essay
The present pair is among eight known and published chairs of this design. Of the eight extant examples, a set of four, formerly from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, were sold at Christie’s New York, 17 March 2015, lot 41 and was illustrated by Robert H. Ellsworth in Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ch'ing Dynasties, New York, 1971, pl. 15 (fig. 10) and another pair was sold at Sotheby's New York, 18-19 April 1989, lot 508, and is now in a private American collection. Of the eight known, all have been lacquered on the reverse of the backsplat and the seat frames are fitted with drop in mat seats.
This pair of chairs displays the unparalleled grace and finesse seen only in the finest furniture dated to the Ming dynasty. Several features distinguish this magnificent pair: the elegant curve of the crest rail, the exceptionally well-carved sweeping hook handles, the three-part backsplat with finely carved openwork panel, and the beautifully figured huanghuali panels. The chairs were constructed by a master craftsman, as evidenced by the confident carving of the well-molded hook handles, which are made rarer by the flattened, rounded ends. The unusual tri-part backsplat can also be seen on a single huanghuali side chair illustrated by G. Wu Bruce in Two Decades of Ming Furniture, Beijing, 2010, p. 136, suggesting that the set of eight horseshoe-back armchairs and the side chair were constructed in the same workshop. See, also, a Wanli-period woodblock print from the Story of the Red Pear, Hong Li Ji, which depicts two scholars seated in tall ‘official’s hat’ armchairs with similar three-part backsplat (fig. 11).
The sweeping crestrail is constructed in three sections, which is rarer than the more commonly found five-section crestrail. Three-section crestrails demand larger sections of timber to achieve the dramatic curves of the arms and would have resulted in a significant amount of wastage, thus indicating the enormous financial resources of the gentleman who commissioned the set. For a detailed description and explanation of the sophisticated joinery utilized by the Chinese craftsmen to construct the curved rails of the elegant and graceful horseshoe-back armchair, see Curtis Evarts, "Continuous Horseshoe Arms And Half-Lapped Pressure Peg Joins," Journal of The Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Spring, 1991, pp. 14-18.
The Chinese name for this type of chair, quanyi, is literally translated as 'chair with a circular back' or 'circle chair'. During the Song dynasty (960-1279) this form was known as kaolaoyang, which refers to a large round basket made from split bamboo. The English name for this form, however, refers to the overall shape of the back and arm rests, which resembles a horseshoe. Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts have suggested that the horseshoe-back armchair emerged simultaneously with other examples of high-back chairs during the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. See, Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, op. cit., p. 56, for a further discussion of the form.
Figure 10 One of a set of four huanghuali horseshoe-back armchairs from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection as published by Robert Ellsworth. Courtesy of Hei Hung Lu.
Figure 11 Woodblock print from Story of the Red Pear (Hong Li Ji), Ming dynasty.
This pair of chairs displays the unparalleled grace and finesse seen only in the finest furniture dated to the Ming dynasty. Several features distinguish this magnificent pair: the elegant curve of the crest rail, the exceptionally well-carved sweeping hook handles, the three-part backsplat with finely carved openwork panel, and the beautifully figured huanghuali panels. The chairs were constructed by a master craftsman, as evidenced by the confident carving of the well-molded hook handles, which are made rarer by the flattened, rounded ends. The unusual tri-part backsplat can also be seen on a single huanghuali side chair illustrated by G. Wu Bruce in Two Decades of Ming Furniture, Beijing, 2010, p. 136, suggesting that the set of eight horseshoe-back armchairs and the side chair were constructed in the same workshop. See, also, a Wanli-period woodblock print from the Story of the Red Pear, Hong Li Ji, which depicts two scholars seated in tall ‘official’s hat’ armchairs with similar three-part backsplat (fig. 11).
The sweeping crestrail is constructed in three sections, which is rarer than the more commonly found five-section crestrail. Three-section crestrails demand larger sections of timber to achieve the dramatic curves of the arms and would have resulted in a significant amount of wastage, thus indicating the enormous financial resources of the gentleman who commissioned the set. For a detailed description and explanation of the sophisticated joinery utilized by the Chinese craftsmen to construct the curved rails of the elegant and graceful horseshoe-back armchair, see Curtis Evarts, "Continuous Horseshoe Arms And Half-Lapped Pressure Peg Joins," Journal of The Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Spring, 1991, pp. 14-18.
The Chinese name for this type of chair, quanyi, is literally translated as 'chair with a circular back' or 'circle chair'. During the Song dynasty (960-1279) this form was known as kaolaoyang, which refers to a large round basket made from split bamboo. The English name for this form, however, refers to the overall shape of the back and arm rests, which resembles a horseshoe. Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts have suggested that the horseshoe-back armchair emerged simultaneously with other examples of high-back chairs during the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. See, Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, op. cit., p. 56, for a further discussion of the form.
Figure 10 One of a set of four huanghuali horseshoe-back armchairs from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection as published by Robert Ellsworth. Courtesy of Hei Hung Lu.
Figure 11 Woodblock print from Story of the Red Pear (Hong Li Ji), Ming dynasty.