A HUANGHUALI 'FOUR-CORNERS-EXPOSED OFFICIAL'S HAT' ARMCHAIR, SICHUTOUGUANMAOYI

The 'four corners-exposed' armchair is one of the earliest and classic forms found in huanghuali furniture design. The elegant lines and grand proportions of the present chair are especially attractive. A number of variations on this type are known, including those with rounded or squared members, those with added decorative carving or embellishment, and those with or without the supporting stiles beneath the arm rails. A similar example dated to the seventeenth century, and also with arm rails supported on single curved tapering vertical posts, is illustrated by Wang and Evarts, Masterpieces From the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, p. 48. See, also, the similarly proportioned chair sold at Christie's New York, 19-20 September 2013, lot 1565, and another example sold at The Collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth Part I: Masterworks: Including Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Works of Art, Chinese and Japanese Works of Art, Christie’s New York, 17 March 2015, lot 50.