Skip to main content
Bonhams
Previous Lot
Next Lot
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 1
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 2
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 3
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 4
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 5
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 6
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 7
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 8
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 9
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 10
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 11
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 12
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 13
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 14
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 15
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 16
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 17
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 1
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 2
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 3
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 4
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 5
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 6
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 7
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 8
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 9
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 10
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 11
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 12
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 13
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 14
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 15
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 16
Thumbnail of A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI 17th/18th century image 17
Lot 88Y
A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI
17th/18th century
The Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection of Classical Chinese Furniture
20 March 2023, 11:00 EDT
New York

Sold for US$756,375 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

A RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL HUANGHUALI AND HUAMU BAMBOO-STYLE HORSESHOE BACK ARMCHAIR, QUANYI

17th/18th century
Composed of cylindrical members exceptionally well carved to resemble sections of bamboo stalks, the five-section scarf-joined crestrail elegantly tapered to form the armrests supported by bowed side posts and ending in truncated outturned handholds, the crestrail tenoned into the curved three-sectioned backsplat centered on a finely figured huamu panel set between a quadrilobed framed medallion of a coiled dragon above and a u-shaped apron below, the back splat framed by complementary back rails run through the seat to form the back legs and flanked by smaller bamboo-form spandrels repeated under the arm rests, all enclosing two rails tenoned into the beaded and molded seat frame of mitered, mortise and tenon construction fitted for a soft mat seat and now set with a hat mat supported by two transverse bowed stretchers on the underside, the front rails set on three sides as a tripartite bamboo frame tenoned to box stretchers accented by humpback 'bamboo' fashioned aprons.
Chair: 38 3/4in (96.6cm) total high;
Seat frame: 19 1/4 x 241/4 x 18 5/8in (48.9 x 61.6 x 47.2cm).

Footnotes

十七/十八世紀 黃花梨嵌樺木癭攢靠背海棠式團龍紋仿竹材圈椅

Provenance:
Robert Moore, Los Angeles, 10 May 1990

Published:
Journal of the Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Winter 1991, p. 92

來源：
加州Robert Moore古董行，1990年5月10日

出版：
《Journal of the Classical Chinese Furniture Society 中國古典家具協會期刊》1991年冬，頁92

This exceptional chair is one of six known to date, four in the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art (object number 46-78/1 of 4) and illustrated in Robert Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ch'ing Dynasties (New York: Random House), Fig. 16, page 125 and p. 241; and the other previously in the collection of Richard Fabian, published in Sarah Handler, "Outstanding pieces in Private Rooms: Chinese Classical Furniture in New American Collections" Chinese Furniture, Selected Articles from Orientations Magazine, pp. 166-173, fig. 9. Bamboo, in plentiful supply in China, has here been replicated in one of the most rare and expensive hardwoods available, embodying the characteristics of integrity, humility and resilience as foundation for the occupant. One of the Three Friends of Winter, it represents high moral character and resilience. The superb and inventive craftsmanship of the maker is on remarkable display here in the luxuriant small bamboo-form spandrels flanking the back posts, the gracefully outturned handholds and the delicately fashioned aprons under the footrest and side stretchers.

Additional information

News and stories

Play
Read Story

Bonhams Magazine | Three chairs for huanghuali