A RARE PAIR OF ZITAN MASTER'S ARMCHAIRS, TAISHIYI QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD | 清乾隆 紫檀雕西洋花束腰帶托泥扶手椅成對

Peter Lai Antiques, Hong Kong, 10th April 1990.

黎氏古玩，香港，1990年4月10日

Made from dark and fine-grained zitan, these armchairs have an imposing and stately appearance. Their elaborately carved design of acanthus leaves on the back splats and side posts unmistakably draws from European decorative arts, thus displaying the cultural and artistic exchange between China and Europe in the Qing dynasty.

While the imitation of Chinese styles, known as ‘chinoiserie’ was popular at the courts of Europe in the 18th century, a vogue for European objects and fine works art in a European style, known as ‘européenerie’, emerged at the imperial court in Beijing. Cultural and artistic exchange took place mainly through Jesuit missionaries, who presented the court with objects made in Europe. Fascinated by Western technology, some Jesuits were invited to live in the Forbidden City and under the orders of successive Qing emperors they founded specialised workshops. Here they worked alongside skilled Chinese craftsmen and created some of the most iconic works of art of the Qing dynasty. The Jesuit missionaries’ involvement at court peaked during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, whose love for opulence and desire to display his imperial supremacy naturally resulted in the adoption of European decorative motifs. These designs were widely employed in the decoration of the Qianlong emperor’s magnificent European-style palaces, which were built in the northern part of the Yuanmingyuan and were designed to resemble the Trianon at Versailles.

Cultural and artistic exchange also occurred through commercial trade in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. The city was the main commercial port in China and the first landing place for many Jesuit missionaries. Guangzhou craftsmen were thus, the first to observe and absorb Western designs and technology, which they quickly adapted to suit Chinese taste. Workshops in Guangzhou were commissioned furniture for the newly built European-style palaces in the Yuamingyuan, and some craftsmen were directly invited to work in Beijing. Guangzhou craftsmen often combined elements from European rococo motifs with designs and construction techniques they were acquainted with. These chairs are a fine example of this artistic syncretism, as their frame was borrowed from classic Chinese furniture designs, and the cloud design on their headrests recalls the guri (in Chinese tixi) design found on carved lacquerware of the Song (960-1279) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties. 

Armchairs of this design are rare and no other closely related example appears to have been published. An armchair carved in a similar style, from the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, is illustrated in The 200 Objects You Should Know. Red Sandalwood Furniture, Beijing, 2008, pl. 42, together with one with cabriole legs, pl. 34; another with the splat carved in openwork from the collection of Lt. Col. Robert Gray Peck, was sold in our New York rooms, 18th/19th March 2014, lot 400; a pair was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3rd December 2008, lot 2503; and a further chair was sold at iGavel Auctions in 2012.

此對扶手椅貴麗雍容，取紫檀木造，用料色澤黝潤，紋理細膩。靠背板、聯幫棍等處雕飾葉紋，乃採西洋裝飾藝術精華，可見清代中西文化之交流際會。

十八世紀，中國風受歐洲宮廷崇習，西洋風亦東漸京師帝廷。耶穌會傳教士入朝進獻西洋物產，尤其推動中西文化藝術交流，更有教士，憑西洋長技奉詔入宮，於紫禁城內設立作坊，為歷代帝皇效力。宮中，教士與中國巧匠群策群力，所造珍品不乏清代工藝傑作。乾隆治下，洋教士最得重用，因乾隆喜好華美，又愛彰顯天威，故西洋紋飾備受青睞。乾隆於圓明園北角造歐式宮苑以仿凡爾賽特里亞農宮，修築工程對西洋式樣大加運用。

文化藝術交流亦與廣州口岸通商息息相關。廣州乃中國主要商埠，又是眾多傳教士抵華首站，廣州工匠便率先融會西洋式樣、技法，以合中式審美。廣州作坊奉旨為圓明園歐式宮苑打造家具，更有良匠獲選駐京獻技。廣州工匠常以歐洲洛可可紋飾結合自身嫻熟之技，此對扶手椅便是一例，中西合璧，框架結構依中國傳統制式，搭腦作雲頭紋，與宋、明剔犀漆器一脈相承。

同一式樣之扶手椅珍罕無多，未見載例。可尋一例，雕飾相類，清宮舊藏，仍貯北京，錄於《The 200 Objects You Should Know. Red Sandalwood Furniture》，北京，2008年，圖版42，同錄一例，帶三彎腿，圖版34；另一例，靠背板作透雕，Lt. Col. Robert Gray Peck 舊藏，售於紐約蘇富比2014年3月18/19日，編號400；再比一對，售於香港佳士得2008年12月3日，編號2503；及一例，售於iGavel拍賣行2012年。