This antique painted sideboard in elm wood features two doors with painted shan-shui landscape panels over a cream ground and a vermilion red perimeter frame. It originates from China, from the mid-twentieth century, where elm was worked using traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery.
Chinese painted furniture with a light palette — cream and off-white grounds — allowed landscape compositions in fine inks, distinct from the dark lacquer of furniture from further south. Two-door sideboards with painted panels were kept in houses to store household goods, textiles and tableware, and also served as a central decorative element in the main room.
The body is built in solid elm. The front comprises two identical doors with a vermilion red perimeter frame profiled in black and a central panel painted over a cream ground. Below the doors, a painted rail closes the composition. The legs continue square to the floor. The construction is traditional Chinese mortise-and-tenon, without metal fasteners.
The painted decoration on the panels shows shan-shui landscapes in soft inks: layered mountains, pavilions, small figures and tree vegetation. Shan-shui painting was a practice of literati and a mental refuge. The palette combines a cream ground, ochre and black inks, with the vermilion red frame adding warm contrast. The composition reads clearly despite the aging.
The patina shows a layered aging. The vermilion red of the frame has worn on edges and corners, revealing the raw elm in warm tones. The central panels keep the pigments softened but the composition remains legible. The top surface shows the natural figure of the wood with soft chromatic variations.
With a 96 cm height and a contained 146 cm length, this sideboard works as a piece of clear presence in contemporary interiors. It fits living rooms, dining rooms and large hallways. It suits wabi-sabi, japandi, contemporary rustic and Asian-inspired interiors.
Details
- Dimensions: Length 146 cm – Width 40 cm – Height 96 cm
- Style: Qing Dynasty
- Materials and techniques: Solid elm; hand-forged iron hardware; traditional Chinese mortise-and-tenon joinery; painted panels with cream ground and vermilion red profiled frame.
- Place of origin: China
- Period: Mid-twentieth century
- Date of manufacture: Circa 1950
- Condition: Good. Cream paintwork and vermilion frames with original wear preserved. Wear consistent with age and use.
This piece is part of the curated collection of Amaru Antiques, Barcelona.
ONE OF A KIND PIECE
