Lot 3649. A huanghuali yokeback armchair, sichutou guanmaoyi, Late Ming dynasty; 63 by 60.5 by h. 110 cm, 24 ¾ by 23 ⅞ by h. 43 ¼ in. Estimate 600,000 - 800,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,197,000 HKD.  Courtesy Sotheby's.

the elegantly sinuous crestrail terminating in protruding upturned ends supported on a curved back splat, the serpentine armrests supported by 'S'-curve posts continuing to the circular section front legs, the mat seat set in a rectangular moulded frame above plain beaded aprons, the legs joined by plain stretchers and footrest.

Note: Huanghuali yokeback armchairs of this type are of striking modernity in the simplicity and balance of their lines. They are called guanmaoyi or 'official's hat-shaped chairs', the name derived from its resemblance to the winged hat that was part of the formal attire of the Ming officials. They were regarded as high chairs and retained a connotation of status and authority associated with the elite gentry in Chinese society. The classical text Lu Ban jing [Manuscript of Lu Ban], a 15th-century carpenter's manual, gives specifications for these chairs and describes the joinery as the embodiment and fine example of Chinese furniture. They are special because only four pieces of wood are used for the four verticals of the front legs and front arm-posts, the back legs and back posts, with each vertical passing through the frame of the seat. They also reflect the trend in Chinese furniture manufacture, from the 15th century to the 19th century, when the technical expedients in holding a piece together became less evident.

Ming and Qing period literature illustrations characteristically show armchairs of this form used at dinner tables, in reception halls for guests and at the writing table in the scholar's studio. For example, see a woodblock print in the 1616 edition of Jin Ping Mei [The golden lotus] showing the main male character and his principal wife seated on a guanmaoyi while dining with his secondary wives and concubines seated on stools illustrated in Craig Clunas, 'The Novel Jin Ping Mei as a Source for the Study of Ming Furniture', Chinese Furniture Selected Articles from Orientations 1984-2003, Hong Kong, 2004, p. 118, fig. 8. For a general discussion on the basic model and decorative vocabulary of these armchairs see Curtis Evarts, 'From Ornate to Unadorned', Journal of the Chinese Classical Furniture Society, Spring, 1993, pp. 24-33.