This versatile and elegant form of seating has remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years. Although attached footrests became relatively rare on chairs during the Ming dynasty, they were often retained for convenience on stools, which were more frequently moved about.
Compare a rare zitan folding stool sold in these rooms Important Chinese Furniture: Formerly The Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture Collection, 19 September, 1996, lot 95. See, also, a huanghuali example sold in these rooms, The Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Piccus Collection of Fine Classical Chinese Furniture 19 September 1997, lot 48. A similar huanghuali folding stool was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 October 1994, lot 413. See, also, huanghuali folding stools illustrated by R.H. Ellsworth, Essense of Style: Chinese Furniture of the Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, 1998, pp. 30-31, no. 1; by R.H. Ellsworth et al., Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, pp. 42-43, no. 1; by Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1990, vol. II, p. 31, fig. A41.