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Roundback Chair Imitating Bamboo

Original Language Title仿竹材黃花梨木圈椅 清康熙
CultureChinese
DateKangxi period (1662-1722)
MediumHuanghuali wood
DimensionsOverall: 39 3/8 × 27 1/4 × 20 inches (100 × 69.22 × 50.8 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number46-78/1
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 202
Collections
DescriptionOne of a set of four huanghuali horseshoe armchairs carved to simulate bamboo, the five-part backs have exposed tenon overlapping pressure pin scarf joints, with a frame splat with a dragon roundel and huamu panels. The front and rear posts continue through the seat frame to form the legs which are square on the inside edge beneath the seat frame; these are joined by stretchers at the same height. A similarly carved spandrel is fixed to the rear posts and an apron pegged to the inner edge of the legs and sear frame. The soft matting seat has been replaced with hard mat. Kangxi Period, probably late 17th-early 18th century.Exhibition History

The Art of the Forbidden City, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, November 30 – February 28, 1955.

Gallery Label
Bamboo is plentiful in China and so is widely used for cheap furniture. In Chinese culture, however, bamboo also symbolizes humility, flexibility, and endurance. Wealthy people who sat in these chairs made of costly huanghuali wood may have been reminded of these moral qualities.
Provenance

Dr. Otto Burchard;

Purchased from Dr. Otto Burchard by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1946.

Published References

M. Medly, “World Furniture,” in World Furniture: An Illustrated History, by Helena Hayward, ed., Douglas Ash et al., (London: Paul Hamlyn, 1965), 278, fig. 1067 (repro.).

Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Chʼing Dynasties (New York: Random House, 1971), 241, pl. 16 (repro.).

Laurence Sickman, “Chinese Classic Furniture,” in Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society 1977-78, vol. 42 (London: Society, 1979), 1-12, pl. 4a (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 370, no. 267 (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


overall oblique
Kangxi period (1662-1722)
46-78/3
overall
Kangxi period (1662-1722)
46-78/2
overall
Kangxi period (1662-1722)
46-78/4
overall oblique
17th-18th century
33-68
overall oblique
17th-18th century
33-69
Folding Armchair
late 16th or early 17th century
68-1
Backstool
1760-1775
34-84
overall
late 17th-early 18th century
46-76
Day Couch
16th-17th century
F72-51
High-Back Armchair
late 17th-early 18th century
81-27/40 A