A rare pair of black lacquer and mother-of-pearl inlaid low-back armchairs, nanguanmao yi. Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period

each centered on a curved splat with a top panel containing a pair of confronting mother-of-pearl inlaid pendant dragons encircling a cloud-shaped aperture, above an inlaid pictorial scene of a scholar and his servants arriving at the gates of a home on one chair, and a scholar and his acolyte in a garden gazing at the moon rising above the sea on the other chair, above a further bracket containing lotus flower scrolls, all anchored to a continuous top rail joined to the back posts with a further pair of dragons clambering down, and S-shaped arms extending through the soft cane seat to the round sectioned legs with squared-off back section, above a plain apron with traces of floral inlay and a footrest with a plain apron and three oval-sectioned stretchers on the sides and back, the reverse with further inlaid floral sprays along the splat above a panel containing flowers and butterflies, all covered in a black lacquer with further details along the rails, edges and borders picked out in finely inlaid floral diapers and floral sprays, the feet capped with baitong fittings. 92 by 57 by 43 cm. 36 1/4 by 22 1/2 by17 in. Estimate 1,500,000—2,000,000 HKD

NOTE: This lot consists of a pair of matched chairs, black lacquer on wood, ornamented with shallow inlaid mother-of-pearl and gold and silver flakes. As a whole they exhibit painstaking and delicate workmanship and are pervaded with a strong sense of court atmosphere. This pair is of the nanguanmao yi "Southern Official's Hat Armchairs" type. The chair back panels are shallowly inlaid with mother-of-pearl, enclosed within embroidery pattern edged frames and divided into three inlaid sections. The upper sections consist of ruyi-shaped openings and radiantly exquisite mother-of-pearl inlaid designs of a pair of dragons playing with a pearl. The middle sections consist of a panel and frame lying even with one another. The inlaid coloured mother-of-pearl panels depict moonlit night outings, figures lamp in hand under the moon with landscapes. The lower sections consists of cloud-shape spandrels. The seats consist of recessed panels around with a beaded border; they have straight aprons and narrow apron-head spandrels. The legs are distinctly splayed, and the seats, arm rails, spandrels, and other parts all are decorated with flecks of mother-of-pearl. The four legs are constructed with the exterior face round and the interior square, and the original metal fittings on the feet are still attached—an important reason why the chairs as a whole are preserved so well.

These chairs are typical examples of early Qing period palace furniture made in the Ming style. The dragons that ornament them are exactly in the same style as found on a black lacquer everted flange table with inlaid mother-of-pearl cloud and dragon ornamentation housed in the Palace Museum, which was "Made in the bingchen year of the Kangxi Reign [1676] of the Great Qing Dynasty." The style of these chairs also seems to be very similar to that of a Kangxi period black lacquer armchair with curved rest and mother-of-pearl inlay now preserved in the Palace Museum in Beijing (fig. 1) illustrated in Hu Desheng, Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Ming Qing Gongting Jiaju Daguan (A Survey of Ming and Qing Court Furniture in the Collection of the Gugong Museum), Beijing 2006, Vol. 1, p. 98, no. 74. Therefore the fact that we find these fine quality palace lacquered artistic pieces that date back to the Kangxi era—and even a perfectly matched pair at that—is a rare marvel.

Sotheby's. Ming Imperial Furniture- The Biegucang Collection. 08 Apr 09. Hong Kong www.sothebys.com photo courtesy Sotheby's