QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

With the top rail resembling the winged hat that was part of the formal attire of the officials, these chairs are generally referred to as guanmaoyi (official's hat-formed chair). Made of dense zitan wood, the present set of chairs exemplifies simplicity and elegance.
This form of armchair, with “four exposed ends” to the yoke and arms cut-off square rather than round, is well known in huanghuali but extremely rare in zitan. Compare to a pair of zitan chairs of similar form, illustrated in My Humble House, ‘Zitan The most Noble hardwood’, Taipei,1996, p.34, which was sold at The Marie Theresa L. Virata Collection of Asian Art: A Family Legacy, Christie's New York, 16 March 2017, lot 640.