This folding armchair is among the Museum's most important Chinese treasures. One of the most renowned of all imperial palace workshops was the Orchard Factory. According to a number of later sources, the Orchard Factory was set up in the new capital, Beijing, at the beginning of the Ming dynasty in order to produce the finest carved lacquer. The chair may be a product of that workshop. Paintings reveal that folding chairs were used by Ming emperors when on their travels.He might be hunting, inspecting territories or making sacrifices at the tombs of his ancestors. The chair is decorated with patterns of five-clawed dragons and lotus flowers. This chair carries the mark of the Xuande reign period (1426-35), although stylistically it would appear to date from rather later, towards the mid-16th century.