Contemporary Chinese painter / designer Shao Fan created a line of furniture called “Chairs” that explores the relationship between Chinese furniture from the Ming period with contemporary design. His chairs, including the present lot, are visual expressions of cultural exchange. In the present lot, which is the first chair from an edition of seventy, Fan deconstructed a round back chair and added a grid-like modernist chair form in between. Though the chairs are playful and innovative pieces of functional design, his work also embodies a sculptural and conceptual approach often associated with fine art. Shao Fan’s work has been recognised internationally, and the present model chair is included in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.