Pair of Roundback Armchairs: Lohan Type (1600–1700s): Art, History and Details

Pair of Roundback Armchairs: Lohan Type (1600–1700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In history, China moved from an original floor culture to high chairs and tables, developing a unique tradition of craftsmanship. Although still relatively unexplored, the manufacturing and styles of furniture differ by region. These horseshoe-back armchairs were made in Jiangsu province. Their simplicity and minimalist elegance are characteristic of Suzhou-style furniture and aesthetics. The backs of the chairs are made of seven pieces of wood, joined and secured with an inserted wooden pin, a mortise-tenon technique that appeared in its earliest form in Neolitihic fragments of the Hemudu culture.

Object facts

• Title: Pair of Roundback Armchairs: Lohan Type
• Date: 1600–1700s
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644) to Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
• Type: Furniture and woodwork
• Technique: 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.)
• Collection: China - Ming Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1955.40

A detail from the museum

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.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “Chinese Domestic Furniture.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 44, no. 3, 1957, pp. 48–53.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.