Chinese Horseshoe Back Side Chair

A horseshoe-backed armchair with a carved character plaque in the splat.

This horseshoe back side chair is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the mid 19th century. It is lacquered elm wood. As original period furniture became harder to find, restoration artists began salvaging fragments from incomplete pieces to make complete ones, and eventually full reproductions began to surface. Dark red-brown chair with a curved top rail flowing into arms, and a gray carved splat with a bold relief character. The seat is a flat framed panel, and a straight apron and stretchers join the sturdy legs. It is 21 inches long, 15.5 deep and 30 high.

Dark, stern and dressed with a single brooch.