A RARE PAIR OF CHINESE HUANGHUALI ‘SOUTHERN OFFICIAL HAT' ARMCHAIRS, NANGUANMAOYI

A RARE PAIR OF CHINESE HUANGHUALI ‘SOUTHERN OFFICIAL HAT' ARMCHAIRS, NANGUANMAOYI
17TH/18TH CENTURY

Elegantly constructed with gently curving top rails and well figured S-shaped rectangular splats with pierced panels of entwined blossom forming the shape of a lingzhi fungus, symbolic of long life, the outcurved arms supported by tapering side posts recessed from the front of the seats, the solid rectangular seats with wicker coverings, the rounded legs, joined by stretchers and with moulded fillets, 104cm high x 56cm wide x 43.5cm deep. (2)

Provenance: from a private collection, London; formerly the collection of Jean-Pierre Rousset, Paris 1936-2021, acquired in the 1980s.

Chinese chairs fall into three principal categories: armchairs, guanmaoyi, horseshoe-back armchairs, quanyi, and rose-chairs meiguiyi. Within these categories, there are sub-sections, such as the continuous armchairs, known as ‘Southern Official’s Hat’ armchairs, nanguanmaoyi, and continuous horseshoe-back armchairs. The 'Southern official's hat' armchair is one of the most prestigious forms of Chinese furniture. Discussing the origin of this form, Robert Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley suggest that it derives from the bent bamboo construction popular in the Song and Ming Dynasties.

Cf. R Jacobsen and N Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, pp.52-53, for a related pair of huanghuali ‘Southern official's hat' armchairs of similar proportions as the present lot. See also a related pair of 17th or early 18th century huanghuali ‘official's hat’ armchairs, guanmaoyi, from the collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, which were sold at Christie's New York, 18th March 2015, lot 106.

十七/十八世紀 黃花梨南官帽椅 一對
來源：倫敦私人收藏，巴黎Jean-Pierre Rousset舊藏（1936-2021），購於1980年代。