Antique low sideboard in pine wood, Chinese provincial furniture with a painted panel originating from Gansu and dated circa 1930. Originates from Gansu, in northwestern China, from the early 20th century, where local pine was worked using mortise-and-tenon joinery without nails, with carved aprons and small painted panels on the door.
In the rural houses of the Hexi corridor, low sideboards with a single painted panel represented an intermediate category between the plain undecorated furniture and the larger polychrome painted pieces. The panel was concentrated on a visible part of the piece and acted as a small domestic painting integrated into the furniture.
Built in solid pine using traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery, without nails. The case articulates an open central niche, three low drawers and two lateral doors with a circular iron latch-style pull. The apron of the central niche is carved through with vegetal motifs — tendrils and stylised leaves — in low relief. The lateral door carries a painted panel.
The painted panel of the lateral door retains a landscape composition in pigments on wood: turquoise, green, red and yellow tones define a rocky or vegetal background with stylised figures. The painting is partially worn, which adds an elegiac character to the composition. The palette and treatment are characteristic of northwestern Chinese popular painting in the first third of the 20th century, where landscape and floral motifs shared a single domestic repertoire.
The patina retains the warm tone of aged pine on the unpainted surfaces and the original pigments on the panel, both with a matte sheen. The painting shows losses and craquelure proper to natural ageing; the wood shows marks, stains and traces of use. The structure remains solid.
It fits naturally in wabi-sabi, eclectic or contemporary rustic interiors. It works as a low TV sideboard, a low display table or an anchor piece in an entrance. The painted panel turns it into a piece of character within a sober interior.
Details
- Dimensions: Length 159 cm – Width 26.5 cm – Height 34.5 cm
- Style: Chinese northwestern provincial furniture with painted panel
- Materials and techniques: Solid pine, pigments on wood; mortise-and-tenon joinery without nails, central apron carved in low relief, two lateral doors with painted panel, circular iron latch-style pull
- Place of origin: Gansu, China
- Period: Early Republic of China (circa 1930)
- Date of manufacture: Circa 1930
- Condition / Notes: Sound structure. Original patina. Painted panel with losses and craquelure. Wear consistent with age and use.
This piece is part of the collection of Amaru Antiques, Barcelona.
ONE OF A KIND PIECE
