This antique long low sideboard in solid elm, with two flush doors and a small lower drawer, is a domestic piece from northern China around 1950. It bears no maker’s mark and is described by typology and region.
Long low sideboards were central pieces in rural Shanxi living rooms: they offered generous storage for bedding, tableware or household tools, and doubled as a surface for jars, books or lamps. The small lower drawer held everyday small items.
The frame is built with blind mortise-and-tenon joinery. The top is assembled from wide elm boards butt-joined together. The flush doors swing on dowel pivots and close with original wrought-iron rings, set into discreet matching escutcheons. Beneath the doors, a small drawer breaks the apron line with its own pull.
The patina shows the pale straw tone of elm washed by time, with deep grain and darker zones in the rebates. The top edges are softened by use and the ironwork keeps a stable oxidation. No invasive restoration.
It works as a long living-room sideboard, a low TV cabinet in larger rooms or a console along a wall. Its elongated volume and quiet silhouette sit naturally in wabi-sabi, japandi or rustic-contemporary interiors.
Details
- Materials and techniques: Solid elm wood; mortise-and-tenon joinery; flush doors with wrought-iron ring pulls; lower drawer with pull
- Place of origin: China
- Period: Mid-twentieth century
- Date of manufacture: Circa 1950
- Dimensions: Length 151 cm – Depth 40 cm – Height 86 cm
- Condition: Good. Wear consistent with age and use.
This piece is part of the curated collection of Amaru Antiques, Barcelona.
ONE OF A KIND PIECE
