17TH-18TH CENTURY

Horseshoe-back armchairs of this type are represented in many public and private collections. The major distinguishing feature, other than the form of these chairs, is the decorative carving usually found on the splat and the apron, such as a ruyi medallion. The present chair has the rare design of a pair of chilong confronted on a flaming pearl within a shaped medallion. A single huanghuali horseshoe-back armchair with similarly carved splat was sold at Christie's New York, The Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Part II: Chinese Furniture, Scholar’s Objects and Chinese Paintings, 17 March 2015, lot 139 and illustrated R. H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ch'ing Dynasties, New York, 1971, p.127, pl. 18.