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30 janvier 2019

A Pair of Zitan Southern Official Hat Chairs, Inset with Marble, Nanguanmaoyi, Qing Dynasty, 18th Century

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Lot 18. A Pair of Zitan Southern Official Hat Chairs, Inset with Marble, Nanguanmaoyi, Qing Dynasty, 18th Century; 104.5 by 60 by 49cm., 41 1/8 by 23 5/8 by 19 1/4 in. Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 GBP. Lot sold 749,000 GBP© Sotheby's 2015

each with round yokeback toprail supported on slender round stiles extending to the back legs, the bulging armrests supported on serpentine side posts and 'gooseneck' front posts, the S-curved backsplat inset with two rectangular black and white marble panels, suggesting clouds or a mountainous landscape, the legs joined by double stretchers set with straight struts below the rectangular frame, with mat seat, the feet joined by stepped stretchers with protruding tenons and a footrest above humpback aprons, the front legs with a humpback apron repeated at the sides.

Provenance: Purchased from Hei Hung-Lu, Hong Kong, late 1980s/early 1990s.

Note: This pair of armchairs are particularly attractive for their harmonious proportions, with the undulating line of the continuous crest rail effectively echoed by the arms and apron that simulate bamboo, while the inlaid marble panels create an attractive contrast to the luxurious and fine-grained zitan. These chairs are also notable on account of their base stretchers that protrude beyond the side posts, a characteristic that is seldom found on chairs of this period. While no closely related example appears to have been published, a zitan continuous yoke-back armchair with latticed apron and base stretcher simulating bamboo is illustrated in Sarah Handler, Ming Furniture in the Light of Chinese Architecture, Berkley, 2005, p. 119, together with another, inset on the splat with a marble panel, p. 121; and a pair of hongmu chairs, the splat with huamu panels and with similar low stretchers, sold in our New York rooms, 10th/11th April 1986, lot 461.

Chairs of this form are known as nanguanmaoyi or ‘Southern official’s hat armchairs’ and are considered one of the classic forms originating in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Although no dated examples appears to have survived, miniature chairs of this form were excavated from the 1589 tomb of Pan Yunzheng and his wives in Luwan district, Shanghai.

Sotheby's. Classical Chinese Furniture from a European Private Collection, London, 11 november 2015

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