A RARE PAIR OF BAMBOO AND VENEER AND LACQUER ARMCHAIRS QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

each with a flush red lacquer seat framed by a back splat with a scroll terminal carved with a pair of stylised confronting dragons with tails interlinking with a ruyi head, above an inset studded white jade bi disk, enclosed by a yellow bamboo-skin square panel with a pair of archaistic phoenix, the splat flanked by an open-frame back with yellow bamboo-skin trim, continued on the similarly shaped open-frame armrests, above a shaped apron on all four-sides accented with archaistic hooks-and-volutes in yellow bamboo-skin, covered overall in a rich dark brown bamboo-strip veneer, the base of the feet with remains of horn padding 

A Private Collection, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Nick Grindley, London.

Both chairs have old chips to the bamboo veneer and chips and age cracks to the lacquer seat. One has a few minor restored chips to the bamboo skin panel on the back splat. The other chair has a 2.5 cm area of yellow bamboo trim that has been restored. The foot rest and strechers on both seats probably has some bamboo veneer replacements. The overall condition of both seats is very good.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Bamboo-veneered chairs of this exceptional quality are extremely rare and even rarer are those decorated in this splendid manner with the use of precious jade and red lacquer. Only one other pair of chairs of the same form and decoration is known; the pair sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30^th May 2006, lot 1524. The modelling of these chairs shows a transition from the Ming style of chairs known as the nanguan mao yi or 'Southern official hat-form chairs', the name derived from its resemblance to the winged hats that was part of the formal attire of Ming officials. While Ming period nanguan mao yi were generally left undecorated, their Qing counterparts became famous for their use of inlays and ornamentations.

An example of a nanguan mao yi made in huanghuali wood and similarly decorated with a jade plaque on the back, from the Summer Palace, Beijing, is illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Classic Chinese Furniture, London, 1986, pl. 49. Compare also several chairs with protruding vertical back rests, from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II), Hong Kong, 2002, pls. 43-46, of which pl. 45 is made of black bamboo decorated with a pattern of three rams made in inlaid jade. See also a pair of hongmu wood chairs attributed to the early-Qing  dynasty included in the exhibition The Three Emperors, the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2006, pl. 174.

The making of chairs of this type involved highly developed skills in joinery and carpentry. The remains of horn pads to the bottom of the feet to stop the edges of the bamboo strip veneers chipping, as seen on these chairs, indicate sumptuous use, as does the use of skin carved bamboo for decoration considering the fragility of the material. Wang Shixiang in his work on Chinese furniture notes that the art of joinery in classic Chinese furniture reached its climax in the Ming and early Qing periods. Metal nails were never used for joining different parts of the furniture and glue was always secondary to joinery. 'Joinery was the sole method by which members can be connected one to another on any surface regardless of whether they are thick or thin, slanted or vertical. It is the means by which members are connected so judiciously that a piece looks well from any angle, and with such consummate skill that not even a hair can be inserted.' (See Wang, op.cit., p. 35)

Richness and variety of decoration is also exemplified in this pair of chairs whereby the superbly formed and constructed furniture is made even more luxurious by means of carving, inlay and the addition of a different coloured and textured material. The inlay of a jade bi not only gives these pieces a rich appearance but during the Qing dynasty bi was associated with Heaven and referred to the high values of antiquity, a notion central to the Qianlong emperor's rulership.

Chairs of this type were generally used in pairs in the official's study although Ming book illustrations show them in use at the dinner table, in the main hall of the house for the reception of visitors and at the writing table. See a 1616 edition of a woodblock print from the novel Jin ping mei (The Golden Lotus), illustrated in Craig Clunas, Chinese Furniture, London, 1988, p. 22, fig. 8, where guests are seated on nanguan mao yi around the dinner table.

The use of bamboo veneer for making larger furniture pieces is rare, although a cabinet made in this material, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is published in Zhongguo meishu quanji, vol. 11, 1987, pl. 62, together with a large box and two hat-stands also in bamboo veneer, pls. 59-61.