Page 10 - Sotheby's Imperial Chiense Porcelain Nov 4 2020 London

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A MAGNIFICENT PAIR OF LARGE HUANGHUALI PROVENANCE Elegant lines and generous yet balanced proportions these chairs, would have forced its occupant to sit upright,
CONTINUOUS YOKEBACK ARMCHAIRS, Purchased from Hei Hung-Lu, Hong Kong, late 1980s/early characterize this magnificent pair of armchairs. Their round thus endowing him with a sense of power and dignity.
NANGUANMAOYI 1990s. members and wide C-shaped back splats create a subtle, This particular variation with continuous back and arm rails
LATE MING DYNASTY undulating movement that is completed in with minimal was first developed in the Ming dynasty, possibly inspired by
◉ W £ 200,000-300,000 details such as shaped flanged and spindle-form stiles. The bamboo chair construction, where pliable lengths of bamboo
each chair with an elegantly arched yokeback toprail rich, lustrous honey-toned huanghuali of the back splats with were bent and bound together with natural fibres. Robert D.
supported by shaped spandrels and curving down to join the 晚明 黃花梨南官帽椅成對 matching grain pattern demonstrates that these two chairs Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley in Classical Chinese Furniture
gently sloping rear posts continuing through the frame to were conceived and made as a true pair. in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, pl. 9,
form the back legs, with a well-figured wide splat tenoned to 來源 Chairs of this specific form are known as nanguanmaoyi, or cite two speckled bamboo chairs with continuous top and arm
the underside of the yoke and into the back rail of the seat 於上世紀80年代末/90年代初購自香港黑洪祿 ‘southern-official hat chairs’, and belong to a category of rails, illustrated in the Wanli period Kunqu opera Tale of the
frame, the arms supported on baluster-form centre stiles, the yokeback armchairs that were very popular in the Ming period. Jade Hairpin.
rectangular seat frame enclosing a mat seat, the edge moulded Nanguanmaoyi are characterised by the unbroken line from A similar chair is illustrated in Robert H. Ellsworth, Chinese
and tapering inwards, the legs joined by a plain beaded apron, top and side rails to arms and legs, a feature that was made Furniture, New York, 1970, pl. 6. Compare also with a pair of
the side and back stretchers of ascending height possible through the ingenious right-angle ‘pipe joint’. These continuous yokeback armchairs from the collection of Dr S.Y.
(2) comfortable and elegant chairs are somewhat less formal than Yip, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th October 2015, lot 111.
Each 120 by 62 by 48 cm, 47 by 24½ by 18⅞ in. guanmaoyi (‘official hat chairs’) with protruding arms and crest As single armchair with shaped aprons, but lacking the interior
rails, which were reserved for the master of the household and flanges, in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, is illustrated op.
high-ranking guests. Nevertheless, the tall C-shaped splat of cit., pl. 9;

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