A pair of huanghuali yokeback armchairs, Late Ming dynasty | 明末 黃花梨四出頭官帽椅一對

Eastern Pacific Co. (Hei Hung-Lu), Hong Kong, 5th May 1988.

東泰商行（黑洪祿），香港，1988年5月5日

This pair of yoke-back armchairs are exceptional for the generous proportions and clean aesthetics. Despite the large size, a sense of lightness is captured through the seemingly simple silhouette, which is so skilfully complemented by the attractive natural grain of the lustrous honey-toned huanghuali.

Yoke-back armchairs are divided into nan guanmaoyi ('southern official's hat-shaped chairs') and bei guanmaoyi ('northern official's hat-shaped chairs') or sichutou guanmaoyi, the latter characterised by the two protruding ends of the top rail and thereby having a more commanding presence. Exuding a sense of majesty and power and testifying to the wealth and social standing of the owner, such chairs were reserved for the master of the household and high-ranking guests and are considered to be iconic examples of Ming dynasty furniture. The design appears to have evolved from earlier furniture pieces, including a chair depicted in the Western Wei dynasty wall painting of Cave 285 in the Dunhuang cave complex, and another in Wang Qihan's Kanshu Tu [Picture of book proofreading] from the Southern Tang state in the Five Dynasties, the latter bearing remarkable resemblance with Ming dynasty examples. A later Jin dynasty example was also excavated from the Tomb of Yan Deyuan in Datong, Shanxi in the 1970s. By the Ming dynasty, craftsmen were able to juxtapose the attractive patina and grain of huanghuali with clean and sober lines to create sichutou guanmaoyi that came to encapsulate the timeless aesthetic of Ming dynasty furniture. An illustration depicting similar chairs is included in the Ming dynasty version of Gujin xiaoshuo [Stories old and new].

It is rare to find this type of chairs in such exceptionally large size, and rarer still to find any preserved as a pair in good condition in any collection. See a similar but smaller example (55.5 by 43.4 by h. 120.4 cm) from the collection of Chen Mengjia, illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Ming shi jiaju zhenshang / Classic Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Beijing, 2006, no. 45. See also another of similar proportions but lacking the side posts and constructed with cusped aprons, formerly from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture Collection, illustrated in Wang Shixiang and Yuan Quanyou, Ming shi jiaju cuizhen / Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1997, cat. no. 11. A further example of this design but also slightly smaller in size (58.5 by 47 by h. 119.5 cm) is included in Wang Shixiang, Wang Shixiang ji: Ming shi jiaju yanjiu [Collected works of Wang Shixiang: Ming-style furniture research], Beijing, 2013, pl. A70.

黃花梨對椅造型挺拔秀美，高大簡練，木紋如行雲流水，線條流暢靈動，委婉有致，匠心獨運。座盤下券口牙子，靠背板微曲合符人體彎度，搭腦及扶手盡端稍出頭，比例恰宜，典雅大方。

官帽椅有南官帽與四出頭官帽椅（亦稱北官帽椅）之分，以四出頭官帽椅最能展示高尚尊貴的架勢，為禮儀中等級最高坐具之一，堪稱明式家具的典型代表。敦煌285號窟西魏壁畫中已見官帽椅雛形，至五代南唐王其翰所繪《勘書圖》，其描繪之人物所坐的椅子造型與明朝四出頭官帽椅基本一致。七十年代初大同金代閻德源墓出土了四出頭扶手椅。隨著時代更迭，四出頭官帽椅在明代工匠、文人的追求之下更臻完美，以珍貴的黃花梨為料，天然紋理配合簡單綫條，創造出明代家具的經典。同類四出頭官帽椅，可參見明刊本《古今小說》插圖。

尺寸恢宏的四出頭官帽椅為數甚稀，成對更罕。參考一陳夢家伉儷收藏例，尺寸較小（55.5 x 43.4 x 120.4 公分），錄於王世襄，《明式家具珍賞》，北京，2006年，圖45。也可參考一原爲美國加州中國古典家具博物館藏例，扶手下無聯邦棍，座面及腳踏下三面牙子有壼門式輪廓，錄於王世襄，《明式家具萃珍》，芝加哥及三藩市，1997年，編號11。還見一較小之例（58.5 x 47 x 119.5 公分） ，收入王世襄，《王世襄集．明式家研究》，北京，2013年，圖版甲70。