17TH CENTURY

A pair of huanghuali ‘southern official’s hat’ armchairs from the collection of the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, similarly left undecorated, with the exception of a ruyi-form roundel on the backsplat, was sold at Christie’s New York, Important Chinese Furniture, Formerly in the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture Collection, 19 September 1996, lot 47. Similar to the present example, this pair of chairs has diminutive proportions suggesting that the chairs may have been a special commission. To accommodate the smaller proportions, the arm rails are steeply angled and have a wide outward curve, an elegant and unusual feature.