Sotheby's.Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 9 October 2020
A pair of huanghuali continuous horseshoe-back armchairs, quanyi, Late Ming dynasty
Lot 3648. A pair of huanghuali continuous horseshoe-back armchairs, quanyi, Late Ming dynasty; 64.5 by 58.5 by h. 102 cm, 25 ⅜ by 23 by h. 40 ⅛ in. Estimate 1,200,000 - 1,800,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,890,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.
each constructed with a horseshoe-shaped arm resting on two back stiles, centred with a back splat carved with a ruyi-shaped medallion enclosing a chilong, flanked by cusped upper edges, the arms supported on each side with an elongated S-shaped brace and a post, each post decorated with a shaped spandrel, the seat with a cane surface enclosed by a frame gently curving inward and ending in a narrow flat band, above a beaded-edged cusped spandrelled apron carved with scrolling tendrils, the sides and back with plain straight aprons, all above stretchers joining the side and back legs near the feet and a shaped footrest at the front atop a plain straight apron.
Note: Armchairs of this type remain strikingly modern in the simplicity and balance of their lines. Known as quanyi or ‘horseshoe back chairs’, these chairs are particularly attractive for the fluidity of their form achieved through the continuous curved crest rail that also functions as an armrest. Frequently depicted in Ming and Qing dynasty woodblock illustrations, chairs of this elegant silhouette were commonly produced in sets of two or four and used while dining, painting or receiving guests. With the addition of two carrying poles, they were converted into sedan chairs reserved for officials of high rank, and as mentioned by Craig Clunas in Chinese Furniture, London, 1988, p. 24, they were considered ‘markers of high status, seats of honour’. This elegant design derives from chairs of nearly identical shape but made of pliable lengths of bamboo, bent into a ‘U’-shape and bound together using natural fibres. Highly popular for their lightweight, sturdy and strong appearance, cabinetmakers cleverly adapted this design to hardwood furniture by creating ingenious joinery techniques. In order to create the continuous back, members were fitted together with a cut-out to accommodate a tapered wood pin that would lock them firmly in place when inserted. The complexity of the design required utmost precision, as a slight error in the tilt of any of the joins would be magnified by the adjoining members. Once the lacquered coat was applied to the surface crest rail, the underlying joinery was not visible and virtually impossible to wrest apart.
Chairs of this design are known either left undecorated or carved on the splats and aprons with raised motifs, such as the present piece. These motifs are discussed by Robert Hatfield Ellsworth in Chinese Furniture. Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, New York, 1971, p. 86, who notes that they are an innovation attributable to the late Ming and Kangxi period. He further observes the similarities between the curvilinear apron on chairs of this type and that found on Tang period tables, such as the example in the Shōsōin Treasure House, Nara, illustrated in Sarah Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture, Berkley, 2001, pl. 12.6.