A rare pair of qianyin and tianqi lacquer 'phoenix' armchairs


Early Qing DynastyEach with a shaped top rail supported by an openwork shaped back panel incorporating the design of two phoenix among scrolling lingzhi stems, each arm side panel carved with a cloud-scroll edge, the seat panel decorated with large lotus and birds, the square-section legs joined by rectangular-section stretchers. 111cm (43 3/4in) high x 63cm (24 3/4in) wide x 48cm (19in) deep. (2).
|清早期 填漆嵌銀花鳥紋扶手椅成對Meticulously incised and coloured in the qianjin-and-tianqi (gold-engraved and filled-in) lacquer technique with vibrantly-coloured dynamic designs of phoenix and floral scrolls, these remarkable chairs may have been made for the use of one of the highest-ranking ladies of the Imperial household.Lacquer wares and furniture worked in polychrome palettes became popular in the late Ming dynasty. The Xiushi lu, a manual for lacquer manufacture compiled during the early 17th century, mentions two types of filled-in lacquer: the 'carve and inlay' type, loukan, according to which certain areas were cut out of the otherwise finished lacquer surface and inlaid with variously coloured lacquer, and the 'filled-in' or 'polish-reveal' method, moxian, when certain portions of the design were raised through multiple layers of lacquer as the ground was filled with additional lacquer and the boundaries between the different colour fields defined by engraved and gilt lines. Compare with a related tianqi lacquer chair, Ming dynasty, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum: Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, vol.3, Hong Kong, 2002, p.54, no.44. Also see a related pair of lacquered armchairs, Wanli, the Lord Fairhaven collection in Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire, illustrated by S.Jenyns, Chinese Art, London, 1980, pl.176.