A 'Huanghuali' yokeback armchair (ISichutouguanmaoyi. 17th century. Photo Sotheby's

with an arched crestrail with truncated terminals above a curved rectangular splat finely carved with an entwined vine and cloud ruyi-shaped medallion, the scrolled outline arms anchored in to the front seat rail, with a soft cane seat above an entwined vine scrolling apron, the wood of rich reddish-brown with a smoothly finished patina. Height 46 1/2 in., 118.1 cm; Width 21 3/4 in., 55.2 cm., Depth 18 1/4 in., 46.4 cm. Estimate 80,000-120,000 USD

PROVENANCE: Sotheby's New York, 24th March 1998, lot 718.

NOTE: A pair of yokeback armchairs of this form, but not as tall, with similarly carved back splats and aprons, was sold at Sotheby's London, 27th October 1989, lot 41, and another is illustrated by Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Hardwood Furniture in Hawaiian Collections, Honolulu, 1982, p. 58, no. 38. A pair of yokeback armchairs from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Piccus without the carved decorative elements seen on the present lot, illustrated by Curtis Evarts, "Classical Chinese Furniture in the Piccus Collection", JCCFS, Autumn 1992, pp. 11-2, fig. 11, was sold at Christie's, New York, 18th September 1997, lot 18. Another pair from the Collection of Wang Shixiang is illustrated in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, vol. II, Chicago, 1990, p. 43, no. A70.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York. 14 september 2011 www.sothebys.com