id: 132965 accession number: 1955.40.1 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1955.40.1 updated: 2023-09-19 11:02:25.051000 Roundback Armchair: Lohan Type, 1600s–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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Norweb Collection 1955.40.1 title: Roundback Armchair: Lohan Type title in original language: 黃花梨圈椅 series: series in original language: creation date: 1600s–1700s creation date earliest: 1600 creation date latest: 1799 current location: 003 Special Exhibition Hall creditline: The Norweb Collection copyright: --- culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368-1644) or Qing dynasty (1644-1911) technique: Rosewood (huanghuali) department: Chinese Art collection: China - Ming Dynasty type: Furniture and woodwork find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 85.4 x 58.4 cm (33 5/8 x 23 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: World Cultures and Modern Art: The Encounter of 19th and 20th Century European Art and Music with Asia, Africa, Oceania, Afro- and Indo-America opening date: 1972-05-15T04:00:00 World Cultures and Modern Art: The Encounter of 19th and 20th Century European Art and Music with Asia, Africa, Oceania, Afro- and Indo-America. Organisationskomitee fur die Spiele der XX. Olympiade, Munich, Germany (organizer) (May 15-September 30, 1972). title: Stories From Storage opening date: 2021-02-07T05:00:00 Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021). title: China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta (Jiangnan) opening date: 2023-09-10T04:00:00 China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta (Jiangnan). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE George N. Kates [1895-1990] date: footnotes: citations: Mrs. R. Henry [Emery May Holden] Norweb [1895-1984], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?-1955 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1955- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The horseshoe-shaped back of this chair is joined without glue or nails. digital description: wall description: 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 mortar-tenon technique that appeared in its earliest form in Neolitihic fragments of the Hemudu culture. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Lee, Sherman E. “Chinese Domestic Furniture.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 44, no. 3, 1957, pp. 48–53. page number: Reprodued: p. 50 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25142197 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 873 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n155 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 268 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n292 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 268 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n292 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 355 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n375 Ball, Victoria Kloss. Architecture and Interior Design. New York: Wiley, 1980. page number: Reproduced: p. 354, fig. 7.23 url: Ellsworth, Robert Hatfield. Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Chʼing Dynasties. New Fairfield, CT: Robert H. Ellsworth, 1997. page number: Mentioned: p. 241, Chair #19; Reproduced: p. 128 url: "Stories from Storage." The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries 24, no. 5: 6-7. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 6-7 url: Spee, Clarissa von. “Have a Seat! From Floor Culture to Furniture of Ming and Qing Dynasty China.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 1 (Winter 2021):14–15. page number: Reproduced: p. 14; Mentioned: pp. 14–15 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1955.40.1/1955.40.1_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1955.40.1/1955.40.1_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1955.40.1/1955.40.1_full.tif