Antique Chinese Qing Dynasty Painted Dongbei Peony Trunk

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Antique painted chinese trunk in pine wood, provincial painted furniture with floral composition originating from dongbei and dated circa 1900. … Read more Antique painted chinese trunk in pine wood, provincial painted furniture with floral composition originating from dongbei and dated circa 1900. Originates from dongbei, in northeastern china (former manchuria), from the early 20th century, where local pine was worked using mortise-and-tenon joinery without nails, with fronts painted in polychrome floral compositions.

in the rural houses of the northeast, trunks were central pieces of the domestic trousseau: they held clothing, bedding, textiles and personal objects. In modest homes, the painted trunk was also the main decorative piece: dressed with floral compositions over coloured grounds, it fulfilled both a symbolic and an aesthetic function within the family room.

built in solid pine using traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery, without nails. Rectangular case with a hinged lid and forged iron front fittings allowing closure with a padlock. The front concentrates the pictorial decoration; the sides and lid retain the warm tone of unpainted pine, characteristic of northeastern trunks where only the front was meant to be displayed.

the front articulates a central painted panel with a dense floral composition: open peonies (mudan 牡丹, emblem of wealth and honour) in yellow and orange tones, surrounded by leaves and small secondary flowers, over a celadon green ground. The frame is closed by a huiwen (回紋, meander) border in yellow and gold, a symbol of continuity and unending prosperity. At the four corners of the frame stylised rosettes complete the composition. The palette — celadon green, yellows, oranges — is characteristic of dongbei popular painting in the first third of the 20th century.

the patina retains the original pigments with a matte sheen and an irregular surface. The painting on the front shows soft losses and craquelure proper to natural ageing; the sides show abrasions in contact areas and the trace of domestic use. The structure remains solid, the fittings in place.

it fits naturally in eclectic, wabi-sabi or contemporary rustic interiors. It works as a low coffee table, a storage piece at the foot of a bed or an autonomous decorative piece in an entrance. The density of the floral composition turns it into a visual focus within a sober space.

details

dimensions: length 75 cm – width 55 cm – height 50 cm
style: painted chinese northeastern provincial furniture, dongbei school
materials and techniques: solid pine, pigments on wood; mortise-and-tenon joinery without nails, painted front with floral composition, huiwen border, forged iron front fittings
place of origin: dongbei, northeastern china
period: qing dinasty – early republic of china
date of manufacture: circa 1900
condition / notes: sound structure. Original paint with soft losses and craquelure. Original fittings. Wear consistent with age and use.


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