A Pair of Chinese ‘Huanghuali’ Horseshoe-Back Armchairs (Quanyi), 17th century | 十七世紀 黃花梨圈椅一對

Private Philadelphia Collection;

Christie’s New York, 20 September 2005, lot 96;

Where acquired by Aso O. Tavitian.

費城私人收藏

紐約佳士得2005年9月20日，編號96

購於上述來源

Of elegant rounded form, this pair of chairs is characteristic of one of the most important and beloved designs in the history of Chinese furniture. Chairs of this rounded design, known as quanyi (lit. ‘circle chairs’) in Chinese, were particularly popular during the Ming dynasty when they were used as seats of honor and sedan chairs for wealthy households. A pottery model of a horseshoe-back chair at the rear of a sixty-six piece funeral procession from a Ming dynasty tomb is now held in the lobby of the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Treasures from the Shanghai Museum: 6,000 Years of Chinese Art, San Francisco 1983, no. 115.

This rounded design was originally derived from bamboo construction techniques, where pliable lengths of bamboo were bent into a U-shape and bound together by natural fibers. Eventually carpenters turned to hardwood to further improve the design with its endurance, vibrant coloring and attractive grain pattern accentuated by the chair’s rounded form. To achieve a similarly sinuous result from the rigid hardwood, artisans developed sophisticated joinery techniques, including the elaborate ‘overlapping pressure pin scarf joint’ which joined slightly curved interlocking elements to form the single continuous line of the crestrail. 

Chairs of this type can be distinguished by the decoration of their back splat and apron. Compare a pair with a similar ruyi medallion and flanges to the backsplat illustrated by Grace Wu Bruce in The Best of The Best: The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture, vol. 1, Beijing 2017, pp. 208-213; a pair from the collection of Ruth and Bruce Dayton with a ruyi motif on the backsplat without the accompanying flange and with a more elaborate apron, illustrated by Robert Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley in Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis 1999, no. 12; a widely published pair from the L. B. MacBain Collection with similarly minimal single-beaded aprons but no adornment to the back splat, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 6 April 2016, lot 117.