An Extremely Rare Pair of Huanghuali Yoke-Back Armchairs Qing Dynasty, 17th Century

each with a curved front edge of the seat frame resembling a fan, the shape echoed by the rounded apron framed by a beaded edge and accented by a small pair of detached confronting dragons carved in relief, the circular-sectioned legs continuing up through the seat to the front and back posts supporting the arms and the continuous crestrail flanking the central splat on each side, the matted backsplat divided into three registers with a ruyi-head motif enclosing a trefoil carved above a rectangular panel of lozenge-woven matting, and a barbed cusped apron just above the soft-caned seat, all above the foot-stretcher with a metal liner

Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: One Hundred and Three Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, pp. 32-33, no. 11.

The overall condition is quite good. One armchair with repaired breaks to the continuous joints of the crestrail indicating perhaps the upper section of the splat is replaced. One front leg with a stabilized split. The other chair with a filled patch to the underside of the crestrail, approximately 3 1 cm. All joints are consolidated and it is likely that some of the aprons and stretchers are replaced.
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These chairs are unique examples with several uncommon features. The paneled splat set with a cane central section, fan-shaped seat frame, and relief-carved splat and apron are individually unusual and corporately extremely rare.  Innovative design is a central feature of Chinese furniture. The problems that faced a cabinetmaker in the Ming and Qing dynasties for the design of a chair are largely the same faced by furniture designers today: how to accommodate a human frame of varying height, weight, and size comfortably on a form that is sturdy and lightweight, that is made to facilitate regular movement back and forth, and is durable, while remaining visually appealing.

The innovative solutions of the Chinese cabinetmaker who created these chairs include several practical design elements that were startling in their originality at the time and remain so today. The cane back and seat not only facilitate air-flow but also are ergonomic, subtly adjusting to changing movements and weight shifts of the sitting human form. The cane surface is a permeable membrane that is biomorphic, altering shape according to the weight and form of the sitter and significantly reducing the overall weight of the chair from what it would have been if the seat and back were solid wood panels.  The cane is held in place by a wood frame and the seat has the tensile strength to support almost any weight or stress.

Repeated movement, pushing the chair back and forth across a hard, probably stone, surface eventually wears away the tips of the feet. Constant lifting of the arms and leaning back exerts pressures on the joints that will eventually fail. Dense hardwood can withstand wear and stress, and because of the strength of the wood, elements of smaller size could be used, thus reducing weight of the chair, further aiding in the reduction of wear.

The chairs have a slightly wider seat opening at the front than at the rear, allowing for easy access by the sitter. The seat edges, arm rails, and all the members above the seat frame are rounded and closed, virtually eliminating the chances of a garment being caught and torn. Almost all the elements of this pair of chairs were constructed with practical considerations of how people sit and rise from chairs: ideas that were relevant then, just as today.

There are no comparables to this pair of chairs, although other chairs incorporate some of these features. Wang Shixiang illustrates a zitan chair with a fan-shaped seat in Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1990, vol. II, pp. 48-49, pl. A77.

Similar style carved elements on a tielimu and jichimu couch in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts are illustrated in Robert Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley, Chinese Classical Furniture, Chicago, 1999, cat. no. 23 .

A pair of zitan fan-shaped seat armchairs with cloud medallions in a similar technique formerly in the Museum of Classical Furniture, are illustrated by Tian Jiaqing in Classic Chinese Furniture of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 28.