A pair of huanghuali horseshoe-back armchairs, quanyi, Ming dynasty, 17th century | 明十七世紀 黃花梨圈椅一對

C.L. Ma Antiques, Hong Kong, 1987.

馬可樂，樂成行，香港，1987年

The pair of horseshoe-back chairs presented here belongs to one of the three main types of Ming chairs. The continuous rounded crest rail, forming a graceful semicircle, is believed to provide a unique sense of repose and containment, aligning with the traditional aesthetic of simplicity. As one of the most prestigious designs, chairs like this can be transformed into ceremonial seats by placing a sumptuous textile on them, which is held in place by the outward-curving armrests; see, for example, a Wanli edition woodblock print from Zang Mouxun's Yuan qu xuan tu (Selected illustrations of Yuan plays), which depicts an official, dressed in court robes, seated on a ceremonial horse-shoe back armchair, illustrated in Sarah Handler, Ming Furniture in the Light of Chinese Architecture, Berkeley, 2015, p. 112.

A closely related armchair is illustrated in Chu-Pak Lau, Classical Chinese Huanghuali Furniture from the Haven Collection, Hong Kong, 2016, pl. 10, p. 72. Compare also three related examples with undecorated front aprons, one illustrated in Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Hardwood Furniture in Hawaiian Collection, Honolulu, 1982, pl. 45, p. 65; another, attributed to circa 1600-75, illustrated in Sarah Handler, op. cit., p. 113; the third illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Classic Chinese Furniture, London, 1986, pl. 54, p. 98.

圈椅乃明式座椅三大類之一。此對圈椅搭腦線條圓柔秀麗，恬雅適意，尤合明式家具之清致。圈椅制式品級高貴，可將椅披掛於外翻扶手上，用於隆重場合；如一例，見臧懋循，《元曲選圖》，萬曆版木板印本，描繪一高官身著朝服，端坐圈椅之上，圖見韓蕙，《Ming Furniture in the Light of Chinese Architecture》，柏克萊，2015年，頁112。

比一圈椅，頗為相似，錄劉鑄伯，《Classical Chinese Huanghuali Furniture from the Haven Collection》，香港，2016年，圖版10，頁72。另比三例，牙條素潔無紋，其一，錄安思遠，《Chinese Hardwood Furniture in Hawaiian Collection》，檀香山，1982年，圖版45，頁65；其二，斷為1600至1675年間造，錄韓蕙，前述出處，頁113；其三，錄王世襄，《明式家具珍赏》，倫敦，1986年，圖版54，頁98。