Asian Arts

PROVENANCE:

Formerly in the collection of a retired American foreign service officer, acquired in China between 1984 and 2011.

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NOTE:

The present rare pair of elegant armchairs, “sichutou fushouyi armchair with four protruding ends” (“armchair with four protruding ends”) or “sichutou guanmaoyi official’s-hat chair with four protruding ends”, are particularly notable for the energetic, flame-like figure of the serpentine splats, a true pair, with the matching grain indicating they were cut from the same timber, and the organic quality of the sculpted details.

The late Ming classical armchair was the highest development of the form in Chinese joinery, and such chairs would have been reserved for the most important guests, or eldest or most honored members of a household. The lustrous golden-reddish-brown huanghuali timber, dense and strong, allowed the Chinese craftsman to create light weight chairs which might be easily moved to satisfy changing needs and occasions, yet convey the wealth and connoisseurship of the patron. The curved splat, cut to accommodate the sitter, the overhanging serpentine crest rail and arms, and the slender vertical elements, often of circular section, all served to influence western designers such as Thomas Chippendale and Hans Wegner.

For a similar pair of armchairs, of narrower proportions, without the carved element on the splats, and less exuberant grain, see the pair in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, illustrated in Sarah Handler, " Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture”, Berkeley, 2001, p. 53, fig. 4.13. Compare also the more generously proportioned, less ornamented pair in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, illustrated in Robert D. Jacobsen with Nicholas Grindley, “Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Art”, Minneapolis, 1999, pp. 50-51, no. 8. See also the single armchair, with smaller, less organically sculpted crest rail ends and hands, illustrated in Wang Shixiang, “Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture”, Hong Kong, 1990, vol. II, p. 43, no. A70.

Compare the pair of armchairs with shaped and carved skirt, sold at Sotheby's, London, November 7, 2012, lot 281. Compare also the pair of armchairs, without additional carving to the splat or skirt, sold at Christie's, New York, September 18 , 2014, lot 1113. See also the pair of armchairs sold at Christie's, Hong Kong, November 30, 2020, lot 2827, and the later pair of armchairs, dated 19 ^th /early 20 ^th century, without carving to the splat and a plain skirt, sold at Christie's, New York, March 18, 2021, lot 751.

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是對設計雅致的扶手椅，又名「四出頭扶手椅」或「四出頭官帽椅」。其活靈活現，焰火般蜿蜒而上的靠背板格外引人註目。觀其木質紋理之契合，刻工之對仗，故不難推測此對应取材自同一木料。

十七世紀明晚期，中國家具扶手椅的極簡風格至於登峰造極。以其常侍奉於座上賓，長者或德高望重者。而中國古典工匠選用色澤金棕，光可鑒人，質地細膩堅韌又輕盈的黃花梨木料打造座椅，非但極大程度的滿足了各種場合的實際用途， 更彰顯了擁有者的豐厚財富與卓爾不凡的品味。又以其別致的造型和精巧的做工對歐美家具藝術影響頗深。無論是次拍品的弓形靠背板，或是適宜人體的流線型靠背板，抑或是高懸的搭腦與扶手，再到修長的立柱（常為圓形）和錯落有致的衽棖，都與時隔百年，相隔萬裏的同類作品遙相呼應。猶以十八世紀齊本德爾風格最為顯著，繼而擴散至二十世紀中葉的漢斯維納設計風格。

另見一對相近較窄扶手椅，唯背板光素，較本對花紋亦稍遜，藏於納爾遜博物館，堪薩斯城，密蘇裏，載於Sarah Handler, 「Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture」,伯克利，2001年， 第53頁，圖4.13。另見一對尺寸間距較大，裝飾較少者，藏於明尼阿波利斯藝術館，明尼阿波利斯，1999年，第50-51頁，編號8。另見一單只扶手椅，唯其搭腦與扶手未若此對渾圓，載於王世瓖「明式家具研究」，香港，1990年，第二冊，第43頁，編號A70。

另比較一對券口雕花者，售出於倫敦蘇富比，2012年11月7日，拍品281。另見一對背板券口皆光素者，售出於紐約佳士得，2014年9月18日，拍品1113。另一例子經香港佳士得於2020年11月30日售出，拍品2827。一對年代稍晚，十九至二十世紀背板券口均無紋飾者，經紐約佳士得於2021年3月18日售出，拍品751。