A beautiful and rare antique 18-19th century carved Nan-Guan-Mao style armchair with a rattan seat, with original black lacquer and carvings in organic color pigment.

Although this chair was constructed with a "soft seat", it has been replaced with an old rattan sheet on a wooden board after the rattan was worn. A "soft seat" is one constructed with an empty wooden frame without a solid wooden board inside the frame, with threads made of coco fiber woven in between the frame underneath the woven bamboo rattan. A "soft seat" offers one additional comfort when sitting on it and is mostly seen on older chairs or beds from the mid Qing Dynasty and earlier. It is a very thoughtful invention to the human's body and is an unique art form of its own. Older furniture pieces constructed with an original "soft seat" with the original old woven rattan are extremely rare.

The name of "Nan-Guan-Mao means the shape of a southern court official's hat as it refers to the shape of the back rest and the arm rests of the chair.

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