A rare large huanghuali folding stool, jiaowu, China, Ming dynasty, 17th century. Estimate $300,000 – $500,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The upper frame comprised of two elegantly shaped horizontal members carved with confronted chilong framing the woven seat, supported on four legs of rounded section joined at the center by pins secured with baitong hardware, the legs secured to the horizontal feet with similar hardware and flanking the footrest, set with ruyi-head corner mounts and a triple-lozenge pattern at the center, above a shaped, beaded apron and short tab feet - 22 in. (56 cm.) high, 23 3/8 in. (59.4 cm.) wide, 19 1/8 in. (48.6 cm.) deep

Provenance: The Collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, New York, before 2000.

Notes: This versatile and elegant form of seating has remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years, and although separately attached footrests became relatively rare on chairs during the Ming dynasty, they were often retained for convenience on folding stools, which were more frequently moved about. 

While quite rare, several similar huanghuali folding stools are known, although all appear to be smaller than the present stool. The closest example, of slightly smaller proportions to the current stool (21 5/8 in. high), but carved with scrolling vines rather than chilong on the upper horizontal members, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29 November 2012, lot 2008. Another example, also with triple-lozenge pattern on the foot rest, is illustrated by Robert H. Ellsworth in Chinese Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, New York, 1996, pp. 42-3, no. 1, where it is dated to the late Ming dynasty. See, also, the huanghuali folding stool in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, illustrated by Robert D. Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley in Classical Chinese Furniture, Minneapolis, 1999, pp. 36-7, no. 1.

Christie's. THE COLLECTION OF ROBERT HATFIELD ELLSWORTH PART I - MASTERWORKS INCLUDING INDIAN, HIMALAYAN AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN WORKS OF ART, CHINESE AND JAPANESE WORKS OF ART, 17 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza