Lot 811. A pair of huanghuali yokeback armchairs, sichutou guanmaoyi, Ming dynasty, 17th century;  56.8 by 47.6 by h. 109.8 cm. Lot Sold 960,000 HKD (Estimate 600,000 - 1,200,000 HKD). © Sotheby's

the S-shaped splat pierced with a ruyi-medallion enclosing a spirited auspicious beast and flanked by beaded decorative spandrels, the sturdy yoke with upturned rounded ends and adorned with the motif of a sun cradled by ruyi-clouds, the curved arms supported by S-shaped braces in the middle and posts that extend through the seat rail to form the front and back legs, with shaped spandrels at the protruding ends, the legs joined by a footrail and stretchers of ascending heights and decorated with cusped and beaded aprons, the front apron further decorated with a floral scroll.

Provenance: The Canton Collection, Hong Kong, and thence by family descent.

Literature: Ronald Poon, The Dream in Reality: Ronald Poon 1968-1998, Beijing, 1999, p. 221 (top left).

Note: Huanghuali yokeback armchairs of this type are characterised by the protruding ends of their top rails, which lend the chairs a commanding presence. Known as guanmaoyi ('official's hat-shaped chairs') after their resemblance to the winged hat of Ming officials, these chairs have retained a connotation of status and authority associated with the highest echelons of Chinese society.

Compare a closely related pair with similar S-shaped features, curvilinear apron and cloud-shaped spandrels but an undecorated back splat illustrated in Grace Wu Bruce, The Best of The Best: The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture, vol. 1, Beijing, 2017, pp. 240-245; and another chair with a high-relief ruyi design on the backsplat, sold in these rooms, 6th April 2016, lot 108.

Sotheby's. Power & Culture – Heirlooms from the Poon Family Collection, Hong Kong, 16 October 2024