.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The present pair of chairs is distinguished by the striking Dali marble panels, unusual carved side points, and diminutive size. Chairs of this type, typically have either plain or simply carved back splats. A pair of plain huanghuali ‘southern official’s hat’ armchairs of slightly larger size, and with dramatic downward curving arms, was sold at Christie’s New York, 22-23 March 2018, lot 938.
Decorative stone panels were used in furniture and table screens to add color and texture to furniture. Panels could be functional, such as on wine tables, or could be decorative, like on the present pair. Chosen for their natural markings and carefully polished to reveal evocative and poetic scenes, the panels instantly transport the viewer to that contemplative place in nature that only the finest panels can convey. Here is an everchanging scene of a landscape. The panel on the left could be a mountainous landscape, the sky alight with the setting sun, and the panel on the right is wild and untamed, recalling a powerful storm or a turbulent sea. Wen Zhenheng, the late Ming arbiter of taste, lauded the use of marble panels in Chinese furniture and praised them as the height of sophisticated taste among the literati and elite. An extremely rare pair of Dali marble-inset huanghuali continuous horseshoe-back armchairs was sold at Christie’s New York, 23-24 September 2021, lot 1003. Compare, also, a set of four Dali marble huanghuali horseshoe-back armchairs formerly in the collection of the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, and illustrated by Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, p. 62-63, no. 29.
The pair is further distinguished by the elegantly carved side posts, carved to resemble lengths of bamboo issuing from a pear-shaped vase. The carved side post is a rare variation from the tapering curved side posts most commonly seen on armchairs. This style of carved posts has precedents in Ming-period folding horseshoe-back armchairs. A pair of huanghuali 'official's hat' armchairs carved with phoenix and qilin, illustrated by Grace Wu in The Best of The Best: The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture, vol. 1, Hong Kong, 2017, pp. 230-31 features this distinctive style of carved side posts.
Decorative stone panels were used in furniture and table screens to add color and texture to furniture. Panels could be functional, such as on wine tables, or could be decorative, like on the present pair. Chosen for their natural markings and carefully polished to reveal evocative and poetic scenes, the panels instantly transport the viewer to that contemplative place in nature that only the finest panels can convey. Here is an everchanging scene of a landscape. The panel on the left could be a mountainous landscape, the sky alight with the setting sun, and the panel on the right is wild and untamed, recalling a powerful storm or a turbulent sea. Wen Zhenheng, the late Ming arbiter of taste, lauded the use of marble panels in Chinese furniture and praised them as the height of sophisticated taste among the literati and elite. An extremely rare pair of Dali marble-inset huanghuali continuous horseshoe-back armchairs was sold at Christie’s New York, 23-24 September 2021, lot 1003. Compare, also, a set of four Dali marble huanghuali horseshoe-back armchairs formerly in the collection of the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, and illustrated by Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, p. 62-63, no. 29.
The pair is further distinguished by the elegantly carved side posts, carved to resemble lengths of bamboo issuing from a pear-shaped vase. The carved side post is a rare variation from the tapering curved side posts most commonly seen on armchairs. This style of carved posts has precedents in Ming-period folding horseshoe-back armchairs. A pair of huanghuali 'official's hat' armchairs carved with phoenix and qilin, illustrated by Grace Wu in The Best of The Best: The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture, vol. 1, Hong Kong, 2017, pp. 230-31 features this distinctive style of carved side posts.