A PAIR OF HUALI HORSESHOE-BACK ARMCHAIRS, QUANYI Each elegantly designed and carved from several members, the top rail curving down to out-facing hook hand supports, supported on sinuous side posts narrowing upwards from the matted seat, the backsplats carved in intaglio mirror image with a ruyi-panel enclosing an archaistic chilong dragon and young coiling to the left and right, the shaped beaded apron relief-carved with an entwined foliate spray, the legs joined by stepped stretchers and a foot rest, the well-figured wood overall of pale honey tone. 101cm (40in) high x 61cm (24in) wide x 47cm (18 1/2in) deep (2). 注脚 Provenance: A European private collection since circa 1980 See R H Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, New York, 1971, p.82 for a discussion about the way in which a revived interest in Chinese antiquarianism, shared by scholarly elites in later 17th century China, came to be reflected in the shapes and designs of contemporaneous Chinese furniture production. For an earlier pair of elegant but visually comparable huanghuali chilong-decorated horseshoe armchairs, but dated to the 17th Century, see Bonhams, New Bond Street, 'The H Collection of Chinese Classical Furniture, Archaic Bronzes and Japanese Art', 13 May 2021, lot 32; see also the related 17th century armchair, formerly in the collection of Robert H. Ellsworth, which was sold at Christie's New York, 18 March 2015, lot 139.