This antique long low cabinet painted in pine wood features a narrow horizontal structure with small drawers and a small door on the right side, over a vermilion red painted ground with softened floral motifs. It originates from northern China, from the late Qing dynasty, where pine was worked using traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery.
Long low cabinets in Chinese tradition were placed on the floor in domestic rooms and served as auxiliary shelves for small objects — tea ware, books, ritual items — beside the heated kang or as a support beneath a window. Their minimal height and reduced depth belong to the intimate domestic register of northern Chinese furniture.
The body is built in solid pine. The front combines three small aligned drawers with circular hand-forged iron pulls and a small square door on the right end with a simple latch. The structure is very narrow — only 21 cm deep — and low — 30 cm tall. The construction is traditional Chinese mortise-and-tenon, without metal fasteners.
The painted decoration keeps floral motifs in dark ink over a vermilion red ground. The pigments have softened with use and let the pine show through in contact areas, giving the surface a warm and layered reading. The palette combines an intense vermilion red, warm tones of exposed pine and natural oxidation on the iron hardware.
With its narrow and low form, this piece plays a clear role in contemporary interiors. It works as a low shelf under a window, as a low console at the foot of a bed, as a decorative support in a wide hallway or as a horizontal stand in Asian-inspired rooms. It suits wabi-sabi, japandi, contemporary rustic and minimalist interiors with a warm accent.
Details
- Dimensions: Length 155 cm – Width 21 cm – Height 30 cm
- Style: Qing Dynasty
- Materials and techniques: Solid pine; hand-forged iron hardware; traditional Chinese mortise-and-tenon joinery; vermilion red paint with softened floral motifs.
- Place of origin: China
- Period: Late Qing dynasty / Early Republic
- Date of manufacture: Circa 1930
- Condition: Good. Vermilion red paint with warm wear and softened floral motifs preserved. Wear consistent with age and use.
This piece is part of the curated collection of Amaru Antiques, Barcelona.
ONE OF A KIND PIECE
