A 'huanghuali' low-back armchair (Meiguiyi), 17th / 18th century

Peter Wong, Ever Arts Gallery, San Francisco.

Compare a similarly decorated armchair illustrated by Sarah Handler in Ming Furniture in the Light of Chinese Architecture, Berkeley, 2005, p. 123, with similarly shaped aprons below the crest rails and frames, and a short raised railing at the back of the seat, which does not extend to the sides as in the present piece. Also known as meiguiyi (rose chairs), armchairs of this more informal design may have been used for writing, as suggested by Wang Shixiang, and are often associated with the women's quarters of the domestic setting.