Lot 1229. A rare Imperial gilt-decorated zitan and hardwood throne chair, 18th-19th century; 37¾ in. (96 cm.) high, 50 in. (127 cm.) wide, 39½ in. (100.3 cm.) deep. Estimate USD 200,000 - USD 300,000. Price realised USD 1,022,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010

The back and side rails formed by archaistic scroll framing three panels deeply carved on the front with writhing five-clawed dragons amidst clouds, and lacquered and gilded with a similar design on the reverse, the lacquered seat enclosed by the shaped frame carved with archaistic scroll and stylized florets, above a narrow reticulated gilt-decorated waist and shaped, beaded aprons carved with stylized lotus scroll, all supported on inward-curved legs terminating in reticulated upturned leaf-form feet.

Provenance: Acquired in Berkeley, California in 1977. Property from the collection of Philip Wood, San Francisco.

Note: The elegant lotus scroll on the apron and the graceful upturned leaf-form feet found on the present throne are closely related to that found on another zitan throne in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Ming Qing Guting Jiaju Da Guan, Beijing, 2006, pl. 56, where it is dated to the middle Qing dynasty. Like the Palace example, the present throne would likely have been set into a base stretcher for additional support. It is also interesting to compare the similarity between the painted and gilded dragons on the exterior rails of the present throne with those found on an Imperial throne in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, illustrated by R. Jacobsen and N. Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, no. 20.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. 26 March 2010, New York, Rockefeller Plaza