Lot 109. A huanghuali yokeback armchair, sichutou guanmaoyi, Late Ming dynasty; 115.2 by 60.7 by 47.8 cm., 45 3/8  by 23 7/8  by 18 3/4  in. Estimate 4,200,000 — 6,000,000 HKD. Lot Sold 9,920,000 HKD (1,140,363 EUR). Courtesy Sotheby's.

well proportioned, two square-sectioned stiles tennoned into the underside of a shaped yoke and continuing through the seat frame forming the back legs, the plain C-curved back splat tongue-and-grooved into the top rail and the back of the seat frame, the outward curving arms supported by pillar-shaped braces and mortise-and-tennoned to similarly S-shaped front posts and stiles, small shaped spandrels tongue-and-grooved to the underside of the arms where they meet the posts, the seat frame of standard mitre, mortise and tenon construction with exposed tenons on the short sides, supported by two transverse braces underneath, the plain front apron butt-joined to the underside of the seat and tongue-and-grooved into the legs, the side and back aprons similarly shaped, the legs joined by square-sectioned stretchers, a plain shaped apron set below the footrest.

Exhibited: In Pursuit of Antiquities: Thirty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1995-1996, cat. no. 220, p. 248.
The Chinese Collections, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, 1997-99.
Grace Wu Bruce, Chan Chair and Qin Bench, The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture II, Art Museum, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 58-59.
Museum Für Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin, 2000-02.
Grace Wu Bruce, Grace Wu Bruce presents a choice selection of Ming Furniture from the Dr. S. Y. Yip collection, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong, 2012, cat. no. 1, pp. 22-23.

Literature: Grace Wu Bruce, Two Decades of Ming Furniture, Beijing, 2010, p. 107.
Grace Wu Bruce, Ming Furniture through My Eyes, Beijing, 2015, p. 111.

Note: "Square sectioned members in Ming furniture always elicit a different aura of antiquity. It stands well alone as a single piece, and not necessarily as a two-some."

Yokeback armchairs are perhaps the rarest type of chairs in surviving examples of Ming furniture. Chairs of this design can be seen in woodblock illustrations to Ming period novels like Jin Ping Mei [The Golden Lotus or The Plum in the Golden Vase].  Square member yokeback armchairs are very rare in surviving examples of Ming chairs although there is quite a large body of other types of Ming furniture made with square stiles, notably tapered wood-hinge cabinets. 

This completely plain chair is a fine example of the art of Ming carpenters in creating furniture pieces that are technically sound, visually balanced and aesthetically beautiful. This is exemplified in the graduated top rail sweeping to finish on everted ends, the splay of the back stile-legs, the curves of the splat and arms and its architectural proportions. For a pair of yokeback armchairs also of square section members, in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, see Craig Clunas, Chinese Furniture, Victoria and Albert Museum Far Eastern Series, London, 1988, p.18.

Sotheby's. Ming Furniture – The Dr S Y Yip Collection, Hong Kong, 07 October 2015