Pair of horseshoe armchairs

Pair of good quality Chinese horse shoe arm chairs. With a curving top rail and decorated curved back splat, these beautiful wooden armchairs offer an exceptionally comfortable seat with great support for elbows and arms, to the surprise of many people unfamiliar with these kind of chairs. The expression ‘horse shoe” chair explains the round upper back support which resembles a horse shoe. Horseshoe Back Armchairs (‘quanyi’) were a symbol of power and status, used in ceremonies or reserved for important guests to the Chinese home. The curved backrest gives the chair its name, and would usually be made from 5 pieces of curved wood joined together with pegged joints. The chair would have a curved back splat, again often decorated in carved relief with a Chinese symbol for wealth, good luck or long life.