Page 122 - Nov 29 2017 HK Important Chinese Ceramics

PROPERTY FROM THE RAYMOND HUNG COLLECTION
~ 2949
A RARE PAIR OF HUANGHUALI HEXAGONAL LITERATURE
ARMCHAIRS R. Hatfield Ellsworth, N. Grindley and Anita Christy, Chinese
QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY Furniture: One Hundred Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung
Of rare hexagonal shape, the mat seat is set within a carved Collection, vol. 1, New York, 1996, pp. 88-89, no. 24
double-moulded frame below the straight back and sides, fitted Hexagonal chairs appear to be a variant on the more commonly
with slender vertical spindles. The whole is raised on five legs of seen rectangular lowback armchairs, meiguiyi, also known as a ‘rose’
chair. This type of chair was popular in the Ming dynasty for its light
rounded section inset with plain aprons and shaped spandrels, and construction and elegant appearance. Extant examples of hexagonal
are joined by low stretchers at the sides and a foot rail at the front. low-back armchairs are very rare, though evidence for this form exists
33 Ω in. (85 cm.) high, 24 æ in. (63 cm.) wide, in woodblock prints and paintings. One scroll from the set of twelve
17 in. (43.5 cm.) deep (each) (2) hanging scrolls from the Twelve Beautifies in the Yuanmingyuan dated
to the Kangxi period, 1709-1723, depicts an elegant lady seated in a
HK$2,400,000-4,000,000 US$310,000-510,000 spotted bamboo hexagonal low-back chair while viewing antiques
placed on a gilt-lacquer table (fig. 1). Similar to the present example,
the spotted bamboo-hexagonal chair is also constructed with vertical
清十八世紀 黃花梨六角南官帽椅一對 spindles in the arms and back.
The most comparable example of the present pair of chairs was in the
Philippe De Backer Collection (Lu Ming Shi Collection) and illustrated
in Ming, l’Age d’Or du Mobilier Chinois, Paris, 2003,
p. 102, pl. 22, which display similar use of the vertical spindles and
shaped aprons below the seat. A pair of zitan hexagonal low back
armchairs with vertical spindles and intertwined double circle struts are
illustrated by Grace Wu Bruce in Chinese Classic Furniture: Selections
from Hong Kong & London Gallery, Hong Kong, 2001-2002, p. 42, no. 12.
See, also, the huanghuali hexagonal armchair with tall back and curved,
three-part splat, illustrated by Wang Shixiang et. al., Connoisseurship
of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, vol. II, Hong Kong,
1990, p. 51, no. A80. Compare, another single huanghuali armchair with
cusped aprons below the seat and stepped stretchers sold at Christie’s
New York, 17 September 2008.
Related chairs with unusual seat construction include a pair of zitan
armchairs with begonia-shaped seats illustrated by G. Wu Bruce in
Zitan Furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1999, p.
24, no. 8 and a pair of fan-shaped huanghuali armchairs illustrated by N.
Grindley and F. Hufnagel, Pure Form: Classical Chinese Furniture: Vok
Collection, Munich, 2004, pls. 20 and 21.

fig. 1
圖一

120