This antique Chinese apothecary cabinet in pine wood features a thirty-drawer grid (6 columns × 5 rows), each drawer with a circular hand-forged iron pull and hand-written Chinese calligraphy identifying its contents. It originates from northern China, from the late Qing dynasty, where pine was worked using traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery.
Chinese apothecary cabinets (yaogui 药柜) were central pieces in traditional pharmacies. Each drawer stored a medicinal herb, a root or a mineral used in classical Chinese medicine, and the calligraphy painted on its front identified the contents following the Chinese pharmacopoeia. These cabinets were often inherited within pharmacist families across several generations.
The body is built in solid pine. The front is organised in a regular grid of thirty identical drawers, each with a hand-forged iron ring pull and calligraphy painted by hand in black over a pale ground. The sides are solid and finish on straight legs. A small moulding closes the top. The construction is traditional Chinese mortise-and-tenon, without metal fasteners.
The pale paint on the drawers — originally a cream or off-white ground, now washed by use — preserves the calligraphy painted freehand in black pigment. Most characters remain legible and still allow reading which herb or substance was kept in each drawer. The palette combines cream white, a bluish grey on the body frames and natural oxidation on the iron hardware.
The patina shows an honest aging. The drawer fronts have worn unevenly: some keep the pale paint almost intact, others have lost the layer and reveal the pine. The iron rings show stable oxidation. The whole has been kept in continuous use and its visual reading — grid, calligraphy, patina — is one of the most characteristic of Chinese civil pharmacy furniture.
Given its exceptional character as a traditional pharmacy piece, this cabinet works as a focal point in living rooms, entrances, libraries and projects of character. It brings sculptural presence and documentary narrative. It suits wabi-sabi, japandi, contemporary eclectic and Asian-inspired or cabinet-of-curiosities interiors.
Details
- Dimensions: Length 102 cm – Width 54 cm – Height 95 cm
- Style: Qing Dynasty
- Materials and techniques: Solid pine; hand-forged iron hardware; traditional Chinese mortise-and-tenon joinery; pale paint over the drawers with hand-written Chinese calligraphy.
- Place of origin: China
- Period: Late Qing dynasty
- Date of manufacture: Circa 1910
- Condition: Good. Pale paintwork preserved with Chinese calligraphy on each drawer and original patina. Wear consistent with age and use.
This piece is part of the curated collection of Amaru Antiques, Barcelona.
ONE OF A KIND PIECE
