Antique Chinese sideboard in solid wood, nearly two metres in length, originally from China and dated toward 1930. An exceptional piece for its scale, sitting between a provincial honour sideboard and an family altar table, representative of Chinese provincial furniture of grand scale from the first third of the twentieth century.
In traditional Chinese homes at the turn of the twentieth century, large sideboards presided over main rooms, fulfilling dual functions: storing precious objects, clothing and textiles in interior compartments, and serving as a display platform on the continuous top board, where vessels, lamps, photographs and pieces of honour were exhibited to give visual identity to the home. The almost architectural proportion of this piece — nearly two metres linear — places it in a structuring furniture, which organises an entire wall without need of additional pieces.
It is built in solid local wood — most likely pine or elm wood — with a front organised in a sequence of doors, drawers or frame-and-panel sections. Traditional Chinese carpentry without nails, based on mortise-and-tenon joints, ensures structural stability despite the scale. The pulls, where present, are original forged-iron rings on plates. The legs, robust, connect to the body in an integrated manner. The top board is generous and perfect for display.
The patina preserves original character: the wood shows a very uniform and warm honey-brown tone, with entirely legible grain and soft matte sheen polished slowly over nearly a century. The hardware retains its most noble oxidation — silvered in some places, dark in others — enriching the functional reading. The structure is solid and all mechanisms work correctly.
For its scale and continuous surface, it fits in large interiors — galleries, grand living rooms, industrial lofts, Mediterranean houses with extensive walls — where it works as a principal living-room sideboard, a low piece beneath a series of framed works, a display platform for collections or a protagonist piece that orders a wall completely on its own. Its horizontal presence orders expansive spaces.
Details
- Dimensions: Width: 189 cm Depth: 47 cm Height: 88 cm
- Style: Chinese provincial furniture, grand-scale tradition
- Materials and techniques: Solid local wood; structure of doors/drawers with frame-and-panel; traditional nail-free joinery; original forged-iron hardware
- Place of origin: China (Eastern region presumed)
- Period: First third of the twentieth century
- Date of manufacture: Circa 1930
- Condition / Notes: Good. Noble and uniform original patina. Sound structure, all mechanisms fully functional
This piece is part of the collection of Amaru Antiques, Barcelona.
ONE OF A KIND PIECE
