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I bought 4 pcs of this chairs abt 12 years ago in Wuxi China.At that time I was told they are hongmu and I bought because I like them.I do not know anything about woods at that time.After shipping back home,only then I realized that the chairs were dyed black and now the dye has deteriorated.As I do not have accessed to the chairs,I asked my brother to clean up the handle to look at the grain.Can anyone advise what type of wood.Sorry for the not so good photos.

Nice folding chair. The wood is a variety of rosewood. It's close grain means it could be alighted colour zitan or hongmu. Both these woods have been used for a long time. Recently there is a lot of fakes of this sort. But if you bought it 12 years ago there is a good chance they could be genuine. show us the way the horse shoe shape handle is put together. It should consist of at least 3 separate pieces put together by tenon and dowel technique. Sometimes there are 5.

Lee,please find attached some photos.According to my fellow Malaysian collector this is 白酸枝 or blackwood.

More photos

This model is possibly the most reproduced chair model of all time. The Ming (16th/17thC) dynasty imperial Pterocarpus santalinus (Yunnan species Zitan grade 1) original it is undoubtedly not. The original has lost wax mounts, & yours are extruded; cut; & bent over the joints. It should also have mild steel pins holding the mounts on, whereas yours has mass produced brass round headed pins. It does however have some age to it, & has a better feel than a number of copies of this model I have seen. I would imagine you could get away with calling it Republic period. I do feel the blackwood analogy reasonably accurate, given it is not a particularly specific term. This is a term that can be applied to a variety of species used at & after the turn of the 19th/20thC. It appears, judging from the prominent axial parenchyma on the curve of the backrail, to be Dalbergia latafolia, or Amandan padouk. Usually this species is called Hongmu when related to Chinese funrinture, but again, the term 'Hongmu' is used for a wide variety of species. The term Blackwood is similar in this respect, but is usually used for Zitan generics, such as Dalbergia menaloxlon, or Pterocarpus soyauxii. There is more red in the hue of your chair than you may expect of timbers usually called Blackwood (that are more greenish brown)

Nice chair.The wood looks like suanzi or blackwood.

Update on the jiaoyi chair.Latest photos by my brother,it looks like it was dyed in 2 layers-inner layer direct on wood is red and on top of the red us black dye.The photos also showed the bronze fittings.

More photos.As it is in pair,the dragon are facing each other.The other pair also has the same dragon facing each other.

More photos.The 2nd photo,top right hand corner can clearly see the wood colour aft cleaning.

Additional photo

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