A HUANGHUALI YOKEBACK ARMCHAIR, SICHUTOU GUANMAOYI LATE MING DYNASTY | 明末 黃花梨四出頭官帽椅

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.

此類黃花梨官帽椅線條簡約和諧，深具現代感，與明代官服頂帽形態相似，故名「官帽椅」，一直被視為中國精英人士身份及權力象徵。十五世紀木匠典籍《魯班經》詳細描述官帽椅製式，並稱許其榫卯結合方式為中國家具之典範。官帽椅前後扶手椅腿共四條直線，以四根木柱穿榫過座板而成，簡約得宜，穩重十足。自十五至十九世紀，中國家具線條趨向流麗，榫卯接位不著痕跡，正反映於官帽椅中。

此類官帽椅多成對擺設，符合中國室內設計講究對稱之原則。明清版畫中官帽椅多置於飯桌側、文房書桌前、或會客室中以供賓客使用。參見1616年木刻版《金瓶梅》（見柯律格，〈The Novel Jin Ping Mei as a Source for the Study of Ming Furniture〉，《Chinese Furniture Selected Articles from Orientations 1984-2003》，香港，2004年，頁118，圖8），插圖中男主角與正室坐官帽椅，而妾侍等則坐木櫈。關於官帽椅之基本製式及紋飾詞彙，見柯惕思，〈From Ornate to Unadorned〉，《Journal of the Chinese Classical Furniture Society》，1993年春，頁24-33。