A rare pair of embellished huanghuali horse-shoe back armchairs 17th/18th century

the five-member crestrail inlaid with six mother-of-pearl chilong, the two larger creatures grasping vegetal scrolls towards the rounded terminals, the single-board S-curved splat, flanked by mock-spandrels, featuring two enclosed panels, the upper with inlaid horn and mother-of-pearl chilong, with a larger panel of groups of vases, censers and precious objects in soapstone, ivory and horn below, the soft matted seats with two transverse braces, set above an apron carved with entwined scrolls, the four posts continuing to the rounded legs with continuous brackets, box stretcher

Purchased in Knokke, Belgium, in the early 1960s.
A Belgian Private Collection.

Both chairs with all four legs reduced. The chair to the left in the main catalogue image with an old restored break to the top rail, and various age cracks to the wood. Some losses to the mother of pearl and horn inlay, and minor chips and small losses to the soapstone vessel inlay. Characteristic surface wear, particularly to the front part of stretcher. The matted seat with surface wear. The chair to the right in the main catalogue image with a restored split in the wood to the front right arm rest, and a crack to the back splat. Similar minor losses to the soapstone, horn and mother of pearl inlay and several age cracks to the wood.
"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."

Embellished huanghuali furniture of this period is extremely rare, and such decorative techniques are more commonly found on wood brushpots and boxes. Such ornamentation may have been inspired by architectural panels and according to Wang Shixiang, in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture. Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 145, this type of embellishment is known as zhouzhi, after the Ming dynasty craftsman Zhou Zhu who was known for this technique. Only two other pairs of embellished horseshoe-back armchairs appear to have been published, both with inlaid images of antiques; a closely related pair was sold in our New York rooms, 18^th March 2008, lot 233; and another pair, but lacking the inlay on the armrests, from the collection of Mrs Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, was also sold in our New York rooms, 19^thOctober 1990, lot 580.

 

There appear to be only seven other embellished huanghuali  chairs published, all of the yokeback type, each inlaid with a bird among flowering branches; see Nancy Berliner et. al., Beyond the Screen. Chinese Furniture of the 16^th and 17^th Century, Wilmington, Massachusetts, 1996, no. 10, pp 109-111 for one from a set of four chairs; Shing Yiu Yip et. al., Chan Chair and Qin Bench. The Dr S.Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture II, Hong Kong, 1998, no. 3, pp 62-63; and one of a pair of chairs in the National Museum of History, Taipei, illustrated in Splendor of Style. Classical Furniture from the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, 1999, National Museum of History, Taipei, p. 86.

 

Compare similarly embellished wood objects, such as an elaborate box sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 17^th November 1988, lot 256; a screen attributed to the 17^th century, sold in these rooms, 25^th October 1980, lot 282. See also a pair of horse-shoe back armchairs, formerly in the collections of John D. Rockefeller Jr., and Nelson Rockefeller, of similar form but without the inlay and carved with antiques and chilong on the splat, sold in these rooms, 2^nd December 1922, lot 67.