58×45×89 cm (22 7/8×17 3/4×35 in)×2

The present pair of hall armchairs bears almost the same form as the next pair in this volume, only with aprons of slightly different structure under the legs. Similar features include a low rail on vertical struts just above the seat frame which echoes the straight back- and arm-rails, and a back which encloses a cusped curvilinear apron with notched squared scrolls. However, the unusual structure below the seat is more open, passing the stress from the seat frame through the humpbacked stretchers to the legs. In addition, there are also metal straps at the corners of the front- and back-posts.
The development of hall chairs most likely began during the Ming period; when horseshoe-back chairs were probably arrayed symmetrically along the axes of a main hall during formal occasions, but otherwise dispersed around the house for daily use. By the Kangxi period, this practice had formalized and a new form of low-back chair was dedicated to this use; they could be drawn up on formal occasions or pushed back against the walls of the main hall when not required.
A related low-back chair is illustrated by Wang Shixiang in his article, 'Chinese Furniture' (Orientations, January 1991, fig.5).
——Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Funiture: One Hundred and Three Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection Ⅱ

Price estimate:
HKD: 1,600,000 - 2,400,000
USD: 205,500 - 308,300

Auction Result:
HKD: --