Lot 978. A very rare huanghuali ‘Southern official’s hat’ armchair, nanguanmaoyi, 17th-18th century; 46 ¼ in. (117.5 cm.) high, 21 ½ in. (54.6 cm.) wide, 18 ½ in. (47 cm.) deep. Estimate USD 100,000 - USD 150,000. Price realised USD 112,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017 

The chair has a curved crest rail supported on curved rear posts and an S-shaped splat. The arm rails are supported on slender, tapering standing stiles that terminate in the front posts above the soft mat seat, above a plain apron of square section. The whole is raised on legs of square section joined just above the hoof feet by straight stretchers at the sides and back and a plain foot rest at the front.

Provenance: Fusil Anstalt, 1998, Channel Islands. 

Note: A pair of huanghuali ‘Southern Official’s Hat’ armchairs, also constructed with a box-form base with square members which terminate in powerful hoof feet, is illustrated by R. H. Ellsworth in Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, vol. 1, pp. 64-5, no. 12. Like the present single chair, the pair retains some of the metal mounts over the joints. A related huanghuali‘Southern Official’s Hat’ armchair of similar form and construction but with a less pronounced crestrail is illustrated by R.H. Ellsworth in Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ch’ing Dynasties, New York, 1971, pp. 112-113, pl. 5.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 14 - 15 September 2017, New York