Note: Elegant lines and generous yet balanced proportions characterize this magnificent pair of armchairs. Their round members and wide C-shaped back splats create a subtle, undulating movement that is completed in with minimal details such as shaped flanged and spindle-form stiles. The rich, lustrous honey-toned huanghuali of the back splats with matching grain pattern demonstrates that these two chairs were conceived and made as a true pair. 

Chairs of this specific form are known as nanguanmaoyi, or ‘southern-official hat chairs’, and belong to a category of yokeback armchairs that were very popular in the Ming period. Nanguanmaoyi are characterised by the unbroken line from top and side rails to arms and legs, a feature that was made possible through the ingenious right-angle ‘pipe joint’. These comfortable and elegant chairs are somewhat less formal than guanmaoyi (‘official hat chairs') with protruding arms and crest rails, which were reserved for the master of the household and high-ranking guests. Nevertheless, the tall C-shaped splat of these chairs, would have forced its occupant to sit upright, thus endowing him with a sense of power and dignity. 

This particular variation with continuous back and arm rails was first developed in the Ming dynasty, possibly inspired by bamboo chair construction, where pliable lengths of bamboo were bent and bound together with natural fibres. Robert D. Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley in Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, pl. 9, cite two speckled bamboo chairs with continuous top and arm rails, illustrated in the Wanli period Kunqu opera Tale of the Jade Hairpin.

A similar chair is illustrated in Robert H. Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, New York, 1970, pl. 6. Compare also with a pair of continuous yokeback armchairs from the collection of Dr S.Y. Yip, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th October 2015, lot 111. As single armchair with shaped aprons, but lacking the interior flanges, in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, is illustrated op. cit., pl. 9.

Lot 108. A huanghuali square table, nanguanmaoyi, Qing dynasty, 18th century; 82 by 82 by 78 cm, 32¼ by 32¼ by 30¾ in. Estimate: 12,000 - 18,000 GBP. Lot sold 69,300 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the framed rounded edge top supported on four round legs joined by two parallel stretchers carved to suggest double stems of bamboo, above further arched stretchers, the underside with four jumu stretchers.

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

Lot 109. A rare pair of huanghuali low-back chairs, Qing dynasty, 18th century. Each 75 by 58 by 46 cm, 29½ by 22¾ by 18⅛ in. Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 GBP. Lot sold 25,200 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.

each with a mat seat set within a rectangular frame with tapering sides of standard mitre, mortise and tenoned construction, beneath the elegantly curved crest framing rows of slender vertical struts, the openwork apron decorated with octagonal panels, all raised on legs of rounded section joined by pairs of stretchers.

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

Lot 111. A huanghuali two door cabinet, Qing dynasty, 19th century; 173 by 100 by 55 cm, 68⅛ by 39⅜ by 21½ in. Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 GBP. Lot sold 100,800 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.

of rectangular form, with panelled rectangular top and round corner posts enclosing a pair of doors opening from a central stile, the bottom half with a floating solid panel decorated with beaded-edged cusp panels, the upper half with openwork trellis, all above a plain narrow apron and short legs, the interior with two shelves, one containing two drawers.

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

Lot 112. A miniature huanghuali altar table, Qing dynasty, 19th century; 32 by 12.6 by 10.5 cm, 12½ by 5 by 4⅛ in. Estimate: 1,000 - 2,000 GBP. Lot sold 16,380 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the rectangular top terminating in everted flanges, above a shaped apron, supported on legs joined by a stretcher and flanking an openwork ruyi panel.

Lot 114. A miniature nanmu daybed, Qing dynasty, 19th century; 26 by 17.5 by 15.2 cm, 10¼ by 6⅞ by 6 in. Estimate: 1,000 - 2,000 GBP. Lot sold 2,772 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the rectangular top with the rounded frame, the apron carved in low relief with floral scrolls and beast heads to the corners, all supported on four small cabriolet legs joined by stretchers.

Provenance: Hei Hung Lu, Hong Kong, October 1990.