CHINA, 19TH CENTURY

This massive meditation chair, supported on sturdy members and with a seat carved from a single plank of elm, is a powerful expression of classical Chinese furniture idioms. The panel on the backrest is composed of intricately interlocking fretwork, and the massive top rail terminates in dragon heads with snarling expressions, their tongues wagging. The meditation chair, referred to in Chinese as chanyi due to its connotation with practitioners of the Chan (Zen) form of Buddhism, is typically much larger than a standard chair, allowing its user to sit with legs crossed in a meditative posture. In contrast to the chandeng, the meditation stool, the chanyi has an integral backrest providing support for the back. Such forms are commonly found in literati paintings from the Song and Ming dynasties depicting scholars meditating in nature, or in Buddhist paintings from China or Tibet depicting disciples of the Buddha known as arhats (Ch. luohan). A seventeenth or eighteenth-century Tibetan painting sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2023, lot 338, for example, depicts the arhat, Vajriputra, seated on a meditation chair with a curved backrest terminating in dragon heads not dissimilar to the present example.
The back of the crestrail bears a lengthy inscription and three carved seal marks. The inscription can be translated as: "Placed in the Qiuxin studio in winter, in the tenth month of dingyou year, the 23rd year of the Guangxu reign (1897)." A shorter inscription carved to the right of the middle seal can be translated as: "Noted by Chengzhai." One of the seals also reads Chengzhai. Although the exact history of the Qiuxin studio and the historical Chengzhai are unknown, an official named Shen Xian, active during the Guangxu period and known for his interest in woodcarving, carried the sobriquet of Chengzhai. It is possible the chair predates the inscription and was later carved when it entered the possession of Chengzhai or the Qiuxin studio.