Pair of Chinese Export side chairs, CHINA, Guangzhou, circa 1740
100 x 55 x 50 cm
39 ¼ x 21 ¾ x 19 ¾ in
39 ¼ x 21 ¾ x 19 ¾ in
653a
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Exhibitions
A pair of chairs of the same model were exhibited in ‘A Tale of Three Cities – Canton, Shanghai & Hong Kong’, curated by David S. Howard, Sothebys London, Jan-Feb 1997, one illustrated cat. no. 218.Literature
A chair of the same model is illustrated in Crossman, C. L. (1991) The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, Suffolk, p.230, pl.83 (pictured right) - then part of the Richard Milhender Collection.
A pair of Chinese export side chairs, with ornately carved lotus flower motifs in low relief, the unusual backs above drop-in seats raised on carved cabriole legs finishing in pad-type...
A pair of Chinese export side chairs, with ornately carved lotus flower motifs in low relief, the unusual backs above drop-in seats raised on carved cabriole legs finishing in pad-type feet carved with Chinese dragon masks.
Design:
The overwhelming majority of Chinese chairs made for export to the West were based closely on popular English designs. The construction of the chairs and the exotic woods they were made of would indicate Chinese origin and they also normally incorporate some element of Chinese variation in the carving. This model of chair, however, is the ‘most Chinese’ of all examples of 18th Century Chinese Export chair making. The unusual pattern of the back and the profusion of surface carving all over the back and around the seat rail has no obvious inspiration amongst English chair designs of the period. Interestingly the low relief motifs are reminiscent of the raised gesso work on English gilded furniture of the Queen Anne period. The only correlation of back pattern design can be found on a pair of Chinese black lacquered and gilt-flowered armchairs sold from Warwick Castle (Christie's, London, 21 March 1968, lot 108). While the backs are of a different scale and outline, they share the same unusual pattern of openings.
Other examples of the same model:
A Cantonese hardwood suite comprising two armchairs and twelve side chairs of this same exotic pattern was presented in 1819 to Lady Salisbury at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire (illustrated in the guidebook, by Lord David Cecil, Hatfield House, 1992, p.23) and the suite remains there today. There is an example at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, and another in the Honolulu Academy of Arts in Hawaii. Also, a chair (one of a pair) of this same model is illustrated in C.L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, (Woodbridge, 1991, p.230, pl.83).
Design:
The overwhelming majority of Chinese chairs made for export to the West were based closely on popular English designs. The construction of the chairs and the exotic woods they were made of would indicate Chinese origin and they also normally incorporate some element of Chinese variation in the carving. This model of chair, however, is the ‘most Chinese’ of all examples of 18th Century Chinese Export chair making. The unusual pattern of the back and the profusion of surface carving all over the back and around the seat rail has no obvious inspiration amongst English chair designs of the period. Interestingly the low relief motifs are reminiscent of the raised gesso work on English gilded furniture of the Queen Anne period. The only correlation of back pattern design can be found on a pair of Chinese black lacquered and gilt-flowered armchairs sold from Warwick Castle (Christie's, London, 21 March 1968, lot 108). While the backs are of a different scale and outline, they share the same unusual pattern of openings.
Other examples of the same model:
A Cantonese hardwood suite comprising two armchairs and twelve side chairs of this same exotic pattern was presented in 1819 to Lady Salisbury at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire (illustrated in the guidebook, by Lord David Cecil, Hatfield House, 1992, p.23) and the suite remains there today. There is an example at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, and another in the Honolulu Academy of Arts in Hawaii. Also, a chair (one of a pair) of this same model is illustrated in C.L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, (Woodbridge, 1991, p.230, pl.83).
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