Thence by descent.

Huanghuali yoke-back armchairs of this type embody a timelessness in their striking linearity and harmony of form, and were associated with status and authority of the elite gentry in Chinese society. Known as guanmaoyi, or ‘official hat-shaped chairs’, due to their resemblance to the winged hat of Ming officials, they were further categorised into two types: those with protruding crest rails,sichutonuguanmaoyi, and those without, nanguanmaoyi.  The elegance of these chairs lies in the vertical lines which extend outwards slightly as they rise from the seat to lighten the overall effect.

Craig Clunas in Chinese Furniture, London, 1988, p. 20, describes armchairs of this type as being made in pairs, suggesting Chinese room arrangements aimed for symmetry. He further notes that Ming and Qing period literature illustrations characteristically show them used at dinner tables, in reception halls for guests and at the writing table in the scholar’s studio, and illustrates a woodblock print of the 1616 edition of The Golden Lotus(Jing Ping Mei), p. 22, fig. 8. This scene shows the main male figure and his principal wife seated on guanmaoyiwhile dining with his secondary wives and concubines who are seated on stools. For a general discussion on the basic model and decorative vocabulary of these armchairs see Curtis Evarts, ‘From Ornate to Unadorned’, Journal of the Chinese Classical Furniture Society, Spring 1993, pp 24-33.