Roundback Armchair: Lohan Type (1600s–1700s): Art, History and Details

Roundback Armchair: Lohan Type (1600s–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. This horseshoe-back armchair was made in Jiangsu province. Its simplicity and minimalist elegance is characteristic of Suzhou-style furniture and aesthetics. The back of the chair is 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 Neolithic fragments of the Hemudu culture.

Object facts

• Title: Roundback Armchair: Lohan Type
• Date: 1600s–1700s
• Culture: China, Jiangsu province, Ming dynasty (1368–1644) or Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
• Type: Furniture and woodwork
• Technique: Rosewood (huanghuali)
• Dimensions: Overall: 86 x 58.4 cm (33 7/8 x 23 in.)
• Collection: China - Ming Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1955.40.2

A detail from the museum

Similar chairs with low, straight backs were presumably used by women or in a less formal context.

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.