Chinese Trunk with Painted Panel in Elm, 1900

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This antique Chinese trunk with painted panel in elm is a dowry chest with a sliding lid and a painted … Read more This antique Chinese trunk with painted panel in elm is a dowry chest with a sliding lid and a painted panel framed in fret. It originates from northern China, from the Qing dynasty, where elm was dovetailed and lacquered in ochre.The front is resolved as if it were a picture: a painted rectangular field, a fret frame and a plain outer surface. That hierarchy places the piece in the tradition of the northern Chinese marriage chest, where the painted face was the one displayed on the wedding day.The case is solid elm with exposed dovetails at the corners and single-piece boards on the front. The lid, in two parts, slides over the upper edge. Wear on the plinth and along the edges is consistent with prolonged use.The panel shows a spray of peonies (mudan 牡丹) in pink and garnet, with one blue peony and a butterfly (die 蝶) in the upper left corner. The peony is the queen flower and an emblem of wealth and honour. The painting is thickly impasted, almost in the manner of oil, over an ivory ground. The frame is a huiwen meander fret (回紋) in orange and ochre, a symbol of unbroken continuity.In the lower right corner of the panel runs an ink inscription with the date 一九七六年八月二十五日 — 25 August 1976 — accompanied by a cursive signature and a red seal. It records the date on which the front decoration was executed or renewed, a common practice when an older chest was prepared for a wedding. The case itself, by its joinery and wear, is earlier.Its compact format and painted face suit a side table, a bench or bedroom storage. The orange fret works well against pale walls and wooden floors. See less