Provenance:Private Scottish Collection.Note:The present pair of chairs exemplifies the influence of Western cabinet-making techniques and decorative motifs on Chinese furniture during the Qing dynasty. Beginning in the early Qing dynasty, foreign tradesmen and firms brought European-made items and built trading houses in European styles in China. At the same time, the Jesuits arrived in Beijing and entered the Emperor's service as court artists. They not only produced western-designed objects but also influenced architectural design, the most prominent example being the Chang Chun Yuan (Garden of Everlasting Spring) in the Summer Palace. As a result of such commercial and cultural exchange, European-influenced decorative arts objects, in particular furniture, began to appear in and outside the imperial court.The architectural crest of the two chairs and the Westernized lotus and acanthus motifs of the surface carving are all drawn from the repertoire of Rococo art. The fanned lappet-shaped headrest surmounting the crest-rail clearly resembles a shell, another typical Rocaille motif. These motifs remind one of the identical carved decorations on the European-style complex of buildings in the Garden of Everlasting Spring. We can only imagine what the furniture looked like in the series of palaces, pavilions and terraces of the Yuanmingyuan as it is now only a place of memories. These ornate, pseudo-Rococo designs satisfied the self-indulgent taste of the royal household.For similar examples see Tian Jiaqing: Classic Chinese Furniture of the Qing Dynasty, p. 42, pl.26; a similar chair from the Qing Court, is in Treasure of the Ming and Qing Dynasty Palace Furniture, Vol. 1, Beijing, 2007, pl. 18 and another Western influenced chair, pl. 88; Sotheby's New York, Collection of Lt. Col. Robert Gray Peck, 19th March 2014, lot 400; Christie's Hong Kong, 2nd December 2008, lot 2508.