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Lot Essay
A rare departure from the standard horseshoe-back armchair, the present example features dramatically curving arms and an unusual bowed front seat rail, apron, and foot rest. The result is a remarkably cohesive design, in which every element responds harmoniously.
The tall, rounded crestrail descends in a graceful curve, tapering sharply before sweeping upward to pronounced rounded terminals. This design is achieved through a rare three-part crestrail construction rather than the more common five-section form. Requiring larger timber sections to create the chair’s dramatic curves, this construction would also have resulted in considerable material wastage.
The dramatic sweep of the arms is elegantly balanced by the rare fan-shaped seat. This subtle shift from a straight to a curved front rail transforms the design of the chair, prompting the front apron and footrest to echo its gentle contour. The effect creates a sense of visual lightness, opening the profile of the chair and enhancing the generous scale of the seat.
A pair of jumu and huanghuali ‘southern official’s hat’ armchairs with similar fan-shaped seats and curved foot rests and aprons is in the Ignazio Vok collection and illustrated by N. Grindley et al. in Pure Form: Classical Chinese Furniture: Vok Collection, Padua, 2004, pl. 20 and 21. Compare, also, a zitan ‘southern official’s’ hat’ armchair with fan-shaped seat illustrated in Wang Shixiang and C. Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, p. 66, no. 31.
The tall, rounded crestrail descends in a graceful curve, tapering sharply before sweeping upward to pronounced rounded terminals. This design is achieved through a rare three-part crestrail construction rather than the more common five-section form. Requiring larger timber sections to create the chair’s dramatic curves, this construction would also have resulted in considerable material wastage.
The dramatic sweep of the arms is elegantly balanced by the rare fan-shaped seat. This subtle shift from a straight to a curved front rail transforms the design of the chair, prompting the front apron and footrest to echo its gentle contour. The effect creates a sense of visual lightness, opening the profile of the chair and enhancing the generous scale of the seat.
A pair of jumu and huanghuali ‘southern official’s hat’ armchairs with similar fan-shaped seats and curved foot rests and aprons is in the Ignazio Vok collection and illustrated by N. Grindley et al. in Pure Form: Classical Chinese Furniture: Vok Collection, Padua, 2004, pl. 20 and 21. Compare, also, a zitan ‘southern official’s’ hat’ armchair with fan-shaped seat illustrated in Wang Shixiang and C. Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, p. 66, no. 31.