Tall Chinese sideboard in carved pine, with a two-door, and two inner shelves, is decorated with geometric motifs, originally from Gansu province and dated around 1930. A provincial piece sitting between a tall bedroom cabinet and a decorative living-room sideboard, representative of Chinese north-western furniture in its most elegant and restrained reading.
In the traditional homes of Gansu, tall sideboards presided over the master bedroom or the main room, where they kept fine textiles, personal clothing and everyday valuables. The vertical proportion — close to one metre in height — and the layout of two doors and two drawers offer very practical compartmentalisation. The subtle geometric carvings, with no narrative figures, reflect the more refined regional taste, which sought elegance without excess of ornament.
It is built in solid pine with frame-and-panel fronts. All the fronts are carved in subtle low relief with geometric motifs — diamond lattices, frets, rhythmic lines — that visually order the composition. The pulls are original forged-iron drop rings on circular plates, and the legs, of square section with slight taper, extend above the body to form the lateral shoulders typical of the Chinese provincial repertoire.
The patina is warm and very even: the pine keeps a settled honey-brown tone, with the grain entirely legible and a soft matte sheen polished by use over time. The carvings retain all their definition and the hardware keeps its stable oxidation. The structure is sound and all doors and drawers operate correctly.
For its vertical scale and its restrained decorated front, it sits naturally in wabi-sabi, japandi, contemporary Mediterranean, eclectic or Asian-inspired interiors, where it works as a tall bedroom cabinet, a storage piece in a living room, a piece with presence in an entrance hall or a decorative piece in a gallery. Its elegant proportion and sober carving allow it to integrate easily into serene compositions.
Details
- Dimensions: Width: 161 cm Depth: 40 cm Height: 93 cm
- Style: Chinese provincial furniture, Gansu tradition
- Materials and techniques: Solid pine; original forged-iron hardware
- Place of origin: Gansu, China
- Period: First third of the twentieth century
- Date of manufacture: Circa 1930
- Condition / Notes: Good. Warm natural patina. May show marks and traces of use
This piece is part of the collection of Amaru Antiques, Barcelona.
ONE OF A KIND PIECE
