Lot 31. A rare and exceptional pair of huanghuali and huamu ‘fu’ character yokeback armchairs (sichutouguanmaoyi), Ming dynasty, 16th-17th century.  Estimation 500,000 — 700,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

each with a gently curving crestrail slightly flattened and widened towards the center and ending in rounded swept back ends, the bowed rear posts tenoned to the underside of the 'yoke', extending through the seat rail forming the back legs, the C-form splat divided into three floating-panel sections, an openwork stylized fu character at the top, a long rectangular attractively-figured nanmu burlwood central panel over a shaped and beaded apron, the splat set to either side with scrolling and beaded flange brackets, the sinuous arms supported on recessed S-shaped braces and delicate bamboo-style baluster-form center stiles, the molded rectangular seat frame of standard miter, mortise and tenon construction ending in a molded, inward tapering beaded edge, enclosing a soft mat seat retaining its original pair of bowed transverse stretchers underneath, the front and side aprons strongly cusped and barbed with beaded edge, the slightly splayed legs joined by square section stretchers with the two side rails set higher than those at the front and back, the side and front rails with shaped aprons (2). Height 47 in., 119.4 cm; Width 25 3/8  in., 64.5 cm; Depth 19 3/4  in., 50.2 cm.

Provenance: Sotheby’s New York, April 25 1987, lot 575.

Exhibition: Classical Chinese Wood Furniture, San Francisco Craft and Folk Museum, San Francisco, 1992, cat. no. 9.

Bibliography: Curtis Evarts, 'From Ornate to Unadorned: A Study of Yokeback Chairs', The Journal of the Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Spring 1993, pp. 24-33, fig. 4.

Sotheby's. The Reverend Richard Fabian Collection of Chinese Classical Furniture, New York, 15 mars 2016, 10:00 AM