Page 48 - Fine Asian Works of Art December 19, 2016, SF

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF C.C. MOSLEY
8051
A PAIR OF HUANGHUALI LOW BACK ARM CHAIRS, MEIGUIYI
17th/18th century
Each rounded corner top rail and arm rests hidden tenoned to the
stiles which run through the seat to form the back and front legs, the
back and side aprons elegantly carved with paired key fret designs
set off by beaded borders and resting on the back gallery supported
by two pillar posts repeated on the sides above the seat frame once
drilled for soft matting and reconfigured as a hard seat covered
with finely woven matting over a plain beaded u-shaped apron and
box stretchers, the underside of each seat supported by two later
transverse stretchers with CHINA carved into one stretcher.
35 1/2 (89.5cm) high; the seat 23 1/2 x 18in (59.7 x 45.8cm)
US$30,000 - 50,000

See a related pair sold Bonhams, New York, September 12, 2016, The
John and Celeste Fleming Collection, lot 6008. As noted there, low
back arm chairs had their antecedents in the Song period with chairs
made from one piece of bamboo where the back and side panels
shared the same height. Robert Jacobsen further notes that these
chairs have a feminine association in North China, whereas they have
been called wenyi on the central coast.
See also Sotheby's Hong Kong, sale 12555, lot 3249, June 2016 and
7 October 2015, the Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection, lot 128.

46 | BONHAMS