A Pair of Early 20th Century Porcelain Garden Seats

A pair of early 20th century famille verte porcelain garden seats of barrel form, with simulated nail heads and piercing throughout, the surfaces glazed with panels depicting courtiers and set upon a pale green ground with foliate decoration.

This form of seating furniture has been made since the late Ming Dynasty – the beginning of the 17th century. The barrel stool was decorated with a variety of motifs including fretwork and pierced decoration together with pronounced imitation nail heads as in this example. The latter motif was inspired by ancient Chinese drums where animal skins were held in place with affixed nail heads.

Garden seats such as these were also made in Chinese hardwoods such as huali; but porcelain offers not only a structure for the creation of form but also a surface for pictorial decoration as in these examples.