IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL POTENTIAL BUYERS ! 

PLEASE ONLY PURCHASE IF YOU CAN PICK THESE CHAIRS UP DIRECTLY FOR I DO NOT WANT THEM DAMAGED VIA TRANSPORTATION FROM MY END ! THIS ALSO WORKS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE FOR YOU CAN INSPECT THEM BEFORE PAYMENT (CHAIRS LOCATION : SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA). 

( $ 50000 (fifty thousand dollars) NON-REFUNDABLE DOWN PAYMENT, FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME IN REGARDS TO COMPLETE ACTUAL PRICE & DETAILS ! FOR SERIOUS INVESTORS ONLY !)

INCREDIBLE BEAUTIFUL ORIGINAL RARE 18TH CENTURY TWO CHINESE MING QING DYNASTY YOKE BACK CHAIRS !! The chairs have Korean wax export marks (images included above). I have been told by experts that the chairs are of the 18th century Qing Dynasty, how-ever my intuition is that they are earlier of the Ming Dynasty, regardless I am selling them as 18th century Qing Dynasty, otherwise my asking price would be much higher. The blue and red cushions are new. Original 18th century Yoke Back chairs are extremely rare so grab these before they fly to someone else. As was the tradition these chairs were made in pairs, as reception chairs for couples amongst the nobility, one for the male and the other for the female, so none are missing ! One of the chair has had some damage to the upper right corner which was cracked but was professionally repaired a long time ago to be as solid as it was when first created, the damage and repair seems very old, and do not what so-ever effect the performance, function, or beauty of these chairs, as you will see when you decide to inspect the pair personally. The chairs are very heavy. I have seen many Yoke Back chairs but none looked as old as these, when I first laid eyes upon these chairs immediately I felt Ming, how-ever due to the "experts" telling me that they are 18th century I am selling them as such, Qing Dynasty ! Approximate maximum height to the curved back head rest section is 46 inches (116.84 cm). Approximate elevation of the flat sitting surface is 19  10/16 inches (49.85 cm).  Approximate height to side hand rest is 27  14/16 inches (70.80 cm). Approximate sideways length of curved back head rest section is 25 inches (63.5 cm). The rectangular sitting section is approximately 22  11/16 (57.63 cm) from handle to handle, and approximately 17  10/16 (44.77 cm) from front to back. These chairs are truly incredible as the images can hopefully show. I have seen many copies based on the form, design and motives of these chairs, but never any originals such as these, neither on the web, private collections nor in museums ! Thus the copies might very well be based on these very same original chairs ! I am asking the buyer to only purchase these chairs if he or she can personally pick them up from San Bernardino, California, which would be advantages to all parties concerned since this way the buyer can inspect the chairs before payment. The price must be settled before purchase ! Please feel free to check out my other Museum Quality Collection !

** One of the chair has had some damage to the upper right corner which was cracked but was professionally repaired a long time ago to be as solid as it was when first created, the damage and repair seems very old, and do not what so-ever effect the performance, function, or beauty of these chairs, as you will see when you decide to inspect the pair personally.

Brief history of the Yoke-Back chairs:

Antique Chinese chairs are surprisingly at home in the contemporary Western interior. With a slender silhouette and graceful proportions, yoke-back chairs from the Ming and Qing dynasties offer particularly elegant and practical ways to bring a piece of history into the home.

In China, this type of chair is known as an "official's hat" chair, because of the shape of the crest rail. It was also known as a "lamp-hanger chair", because its form is very similar to a ladder-like structure that was historically used to — you guessed it — hang lamps in the Chinese home. In the West, they tend to be known as yoke-back chairs, since the protruding crest rail resembles a yoke for oxen, and obviously oxen accessories are our main aesthetic reference point.

Extant chairs in this style date no earlier than the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), but apparently there is some artwork from as early as the 10th century depicting this chair form in China. The most popular era for these chairs was during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties (the Qing dynasty lasted from 1644-1911).

These chairs were often crafted out of huanghuali, which is part of the rosewood family, and was a favorite hardwood in traditional Chinese furniture. The wood itself is known as huali, while the modifier huang, or yellow-brown, refers to the patina of age.

During the Ming dynasty, a ban on maritime trade was lifted, making huanghuali and other hardwoods available. Although the basic form of the yoke-back chair had been established for centuries, this new hardwood material allowed craftsmen to reduce the chair to its most slender proportions. The unadorned simplicity of the chair was especially appealing to the elites during the late Ming era, and is an essential part of the Ming aesthetic.

Other than that evocative back rail, one of the key attributes of these yoke-back chairs is the design of the stretchers that support the legs. In antique Chinese designs, these stretchers are stepped up, so that one is higher than the other. The Chinese term for this is bubugao, which means "step higher" and originally referred to the promotion of an official. This association with status is not uncommon for chairs — in Western cultures, too, certain chairs were reserved for people who enjoyed a certain degree of authority or power.

A more visible attribute of the yoke-back chair is that wide center splat, the vertical back support between the seat and the crest rail. This was an innovation in chair designs; early Western chairs typically had a solid throne-like back. The center splat was occasionally carved or inlaid to decorative effect, but its original purpose was for function and comfort, because the user could sit with legs crossed beneath him (for this reason, the chair has occasionally also been known as a "meditation chair"). A pair of Chinese yoke-back chairs sent as a gift to King Phillip II in the 16th century must have been inspirational in the West; around a century later, those wide back splats, as well as similarly elegant proportions, appear in the Queen Anne (or Georgian) style chairs in England and America.

                  My beautiful Yoke Back chairs hold all these attributes !

多谢