This pair of yoke-back armchairs are exceptional for the generous proportions and clean aesthetics. Despite the large size, a sense of lightness is captured through the seemingly simple silhouette, which is so skilfully complemented by the attractive natural grain of the lustrous honey-toned huanghuali.

Yoke-back armchairs are divided into nan guanmaoyi ('southern official's hat-shaped chairs') and bei guanmaoyi ('northern official's hat-shaped chairs') or sichutou guanmaoyi, the latter characterised by the two protruding ends of the top rail and thereby having a more commanding presence. Exuding a sense of majesty and power and testifying to the wealth and social standing of the owner, such chairs were reserved for the master of the household and high-ranking guests and are considered to be iconic examples of Ming dynasty furniture.The design appears to have evolved from earlier furniture pieces, including a chair depicted in the Western Wei dynasty wall painting of Cave 285 in the Dunhuang cave complex, and another in Wang Qihan's Kanshu Tu [Picture of book proofreading] from the Southern Tang state in the Five dynasties, the latter bearing remarkable resemblance with Ming dynasty examples. A later Jin dynasty example was also excavated from the Tomb of Yan Deyuan in Datong, Shanxi in the 1970s. By the Ming dynasty, craft.mes n were able to juxtapose the attractive patina and grain of huanghuali with clean and sober lines to create sichutou guanmaoyi that came to encapsulate the t.mes less aesthetic of Ming dynasty furniture. An illustration depicting similar chairs is included in the Ming dynasty version of Gujin xiaoshuo [Stories old and new] (fig. 1).

It is rare to find chairs of this type of this size, and rarer still to find any preserved as a pair in such good condition in any collects ion. See a similar but slightly larger example (55.5 by 43.4 by 120.4 cm) from the collects ion of Chen Mengjia, illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Ming shi jiaju zhenshang / Classic Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Beijing, 2006, no. 45. See also another of similar proportions but lacking the side posts and constructed with cusped aprons, formerly from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture collects ion, illustrated in Wang Shixiang and Yuan Quanyou, Ming shi jiaju cuizhen / Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1997, cat. no. 11.

此椅造型挺拔秀美，高大簡練。通體光素無紋飾，木紋如行雲流水，綫條流暢靈動，委婉有致，匠心獨運。對椅黃花梨製，蓆心坐面，座盤下鑲魚肚形券口牙子，後柱直通坐面，向後彎曲與搭腦連接。靠背板光素，呈S形，彎度符合人體比例; 搭腦及扶手盡端出頭，比例得宜; 扶手及聯邦棍曲度婀娜多姿，盡端外撇，鵝脖前置拖角小牙子。

官帽椅有南官帽與四出頭官帽椅（亦稱北官帽椅）之分，以四出頭官帽椅最能展示高尚尊貴的架勢，為禮儀中等級最高坐具之一，堪稱明式家具的典型代表。敦煌285號窟西魏壁畫中已見官帽椅雛形，至五代南唐王其翰所繪《勘書圖》，其描繪之人物所坐的椅子造型與明朝四出頭官帽椅基本一致。七十年代初大同金代閻德源墓出土了四出頭扶手椅。隨著時代更迭，四出頭官帽椅在明代工匠、文人的追求之下更臻完美，以珍貴的黃花梨為料，天然紋理配合簡單綫條，創造出明代家具的經典。同類四出頭官帽椅，可參見明刊本《古今小說》插圖（圖一）。

造型高大四出頭官帽椅為數甚稀，而官帽椅成對更爲罕見。參考一陳夢家伉儷收藏例，尺寸稍大（55.5 x 43.4 x 120.4 公分），錄於王世襄，《明式家具珍賞》，北京，2006年，圖45。也可參考一原爲美國加州中國古典家具博物館藏例，扶手下無聯邦棍，座面及腳踏下三面牙子有壼門式輪廓，錄於王世襄，《明式家具萃珍》，芝加哥及三藩市，1997年，編號11。