Pair of Roundback Armchairs: Lohan Type
1600–1700s
Maker Unknown
Chinese Art
Pair of Roundback Armchairs: Lohan Type, 1600–1700s. China, Ming dynasty (1368-1644) or Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Rosewood (huanghuali); overall: 85.4 x 58.4 cm (33 5/8 x 23 in.); chair: 86 x 63.5 x 47 cm (33 7/8 x 25 x 18 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Norweb Collection 1955.40 Following the tradition of sitting cross-legged on an elevated platform, these armchairs allow the sitter to rest their feet on the stretcher between the front legs, or to pull their legs up resting their shoes on the stretcher. The existence of such chairs in pairs suggests that they were used in more formal settings reserved for important guests and family members of age and high status. Similar chairs with low, straight backs were presumably used by women or in a less formal context. The horseshoe-shaped backs of these chairs are made of seven pieces of wood joined without glue or nails and secured with an inserted wooden pin that holds them in place.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Furniture and woodwork
- Formatted Medium
- Rosewood (huanghuali)
- Medium
- rosewood, huanghuali
- Dimensions
- Overall: 85.4 x 58.4 cm (33 5/8 x 23 in.); Chair: 86 x 63.5 x 47 cm (33 7/8 x 25 x 18 1/2 in.)
- Departments
- Chinese Art
- Accession Number
- 1955.40
- Credit Line
- The Norweb Collection
- Exhibitions
- World Cultures and Modern Art: The Encounter of 19th and 20th Century European Art and Music with Asia, Africa, Oceania, Afro- and Indo-America, Stories From Storage
- Rights Statement
- CC0
Have a concern, a correction, or something to add?
