Antique Qing Dynasty Bogu Shanxi Cabinet or Sideboard in Painted Pine

Details

Description

Antique painted sideboard in pine wood, chinese provincial furniture with painted panels originating from shanxi and dated circa 1930. Originates … Read more Antique painted sideboard in pine wood, chinese provincial furniture with painted panels originating from shanxi and dated circa 1930. Originates from shanxi, in northern china, from the early 20th century, where pine was worked using mortise-and-tenon joinery without nails and sideboards were decorated with painted panels on the doors.

in the living rooms and dining rooms of well-to-do houses in shanxi in the early 20th century, long sideboards were central pieces of the domestic trousseau: they held tableware, textiles and everyday objects, and articulated an entire wall visually. When they carried painted panels, these worked as fixed domestic paintings that conveyed the cultural values and aspirations of the family. Their typology belongs to the provincial tradition of northern china.

built in shanxi solid pine using traditional carpentry without nails. The front is organised in three bodies: two individual side doors and a central double door, all lacquered in vermilion with a black frame and ring wrought iron pulls. The lower plinth retains its original lacquer. The legs are square in section. The carpentry preserves the imprint of provincial northern furniture.

the two side doors retain their rectangular painted panel with a chinese tradicional scene (博古), a composition of objects from the scholar’s studio: a vase with peony flowers (mudan 牡丹), the “queen of flowers” in china and emblem of prosperity and honour; a ritual cup raised on a pedestal — a reference to the archaic shang and zhou bronzes; a box wrapped in blue cloth, symbol of a treasured object kept; and a book or scroll, attribute of the confucian scholar. To the left of each panel a vertical calligraphic inscription is preserved including the characters 富貴 (fugui, “wealth and honour”), one of the most recurrent auspicious wishes in the chinese repertoire. The central double door remains lacquered in vermilion without a visible panel.

the patina records the passage of time: the black lacquer of the frame shows fine craquelure with areas where the pine surfaces, the vermilion retains an even density with soft wear in the contact areas, and the painting of the painted panels shows soft losses and craquelure proper to an original finish nearly a century old. The structure remains solid.

it fits naturally in contemporary living rooms, dining rooms or thematic galleries. It works as a service sideboard, a piece beneath a hung composition or a horizontal anchor on a complete wall. The painted panels and the calligraphic inscription are its greatest value.

details

dimensions: length 192 cm – width 40 cm – height 63 cm
style: painted chinese provincial furniture, decorative painted panels
materials and techniques: shanxi solid pine, black and vermilion lacquer, paint on golden ground, wrought iron hardware; mortise-and-tenon joinery without nails, two side doors painted, lacquered central double door
place of origin: shanxi, china
period: late qing dynasty / early republic of china (circa 1930)
date of manufacture: circa 1930
condition / notes: sound structure. Original patina and paint. Marks and traces of use. Possible light restorations. Wear consistent with age and use.


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