A Rare Pair of Continuous Horseshoe-Back Zitan Armchairs Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period

each elegantly formed by a clean and open profile with a robustly sweeping crestrail made of five sections supported by a pronounced curved pitch of the central backsplat and rounded front and back posts descending through the soft-caned seat and forming the legs, the seat framed by square-sectioned humpbacked stretchers and vertical struts below, the legs further secured by rounded foot-stretchers, the fine-grain wood of deep chestnut patina

Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: One Hundred and Three Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, pp. 38-39, no. 14.

The overall condition is quite good. One armchair with a repaired breaks to one of the overlapping joints and one of the pipe joints. The front right post is probably replaced. The other armchair with consolidated joints along the crestrail.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Horseshoe-back armchairs are derived from chairs of nearly identical shape made of pliable lengths of bamboo, bent into a 'U'-shape and bound together by natural fibers. These chairs were lightweight, sturdy, and strong. Bamboo grew fast and was plentiful. It also was powerfully evocative to urban dwellers in China of a simpler, rural life.

The bamboo horseshoe-back armchair was an appealing design because they are lightweight, sturdy, and practical and bamboo has many positive associations in Chinese culture. Over time, this popular design was interpreted in wood. The cabinetmaker had to either bend the wood to make the curved crestrail, which was not possible with dense tropical hardwoods, or construct it of lighter, less durable woods that did bend. Desiring to use beautiful tropical hardwoods, cabinet makers found a solution in an ingenious joinery technique that applied an equal amount of pressure to two sides of two interlocking slightly curved elements. The two pieces fit together with a cut-out to accommodate a tapered wood pin that when inserted put pressure on the two pieces, locking them firmly in place.

A series of these joins connected together, each forming a section of the overall curve of the U-shaped crestrail, created a single, strong unit. When lacquered, the underlying joinery was not visible and virtually impossible to wrest apart. For chairs made of huanghuali, zitan, or other hardwoods, the beauty of the wood grain enhanced the appeal, and the sections were reinforced by hot animal glues.

These zitan chairs have a dramatically raking splat and low slung seamless crestrail that arches up and slightly outward as it joins to the front leg in a masterwork of cabinetmaking skill. The complexity of the design requires precise cabinetwork. A slight error in the tilt of any of the joins would be magnified throughout the adjoining members. The joins not only have to be correctly angled, but also tight. The spareness of the design requires extraordinary expertise from the choice of material to the final finishing process. It is not surprising that few chairs in this design exist.

Wang Shixiang in illustrates a line drawing of a similar design in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, vol. II, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 50, pl. A82. Gustav Ecke,  illustrates one of a pair of huanghuali chairs nearly identical to this example, in Chinese Domestic Furniture, Dover, 1981, p. 106, pl. 85.

A woodblock illustration from the Wanli period (1573-1619) edition of the novel Shuihu zhuan (The Water Margin), depicts a very similar continuous-arm horseshoe-back armchair, and is reproduced by Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts in Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chinese Art Foundation, San Francisco, 1995, p. 60.

A very similar pair of chairs, probably of zitan but described as hardwood and with an added post under the arms, was sold in our New York rooms, 13th October 1984, lot 383.  Another but with a straight apron and long flange brackets framing the legs, was also sold in our New York rooms, 23rd September 1997, lot 410.  A number of continuous back armchairs but with differing aprons or other features have sold, including an example in huanghuali, also sold in our New York rooms, 11th April 1986, lot 373.