Lot Essay
Although folding armchairs are rare, a number are in public collections, including the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, illustrated in the Handbook of the Collection, vol. II, p. 95, by Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, pl. 27, and Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, II, A91; Royal Ontario Museum, Chinese Furniture, ibid, vol. II, pl. 38; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, discussed in a monograph by Wu Tung, 'From Imported Nomadic Seat to Chinese Folding Armchair'; Pacific Asia Museum; and a carved cinnabar lacquer example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Chinese Lacquer, pl. 82.
Other examples in private collections are illustrated in Connoisseurship, op. cit., pl. A90 and A 93, and by Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture, pl. 105.
Compare also to the chair from the collections of Frederick Mueller and the Museum of Classic Furniture, Renaissance, California, sold in our New York Rooms, 29 November 1990, lot 395.
Other examples in private collections are illustrated in Connoisseurship, op. cit., pl. A90 and A 93, and by Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture, pl. 105.
Compare also to the chair from the collections of Frederick Mueller and the Museum of Classic Furniture, Renaissance, California, sold in our New York Rooms, 29 November 1990, lot 395.