{"id":277110,"date":"2026-05-04T16:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T14:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amaruantiques.com\/?post_type=product&p=277110"},"modified":"2026-05-14T09:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T07:48:39","slug":"antique-chinese-painted-wood-basket-china-circa-1900-am29035","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/amaruantiques.stg.uzero.cat\/en\/antique-furniture\/antique-chinese-painted-wood-basket-china-circa-1900-am29035\/","title":{"rendered":"Antique Chinese painted wood basket \u2013 China, circa 1900"},"content":{"rendered":"

Antique Chinese painted wood basket<\/strong>, of trapezoidal form with a central handle, decorated on each face with calligraphic medallions<\/em> in black pigments over a natural wood ground. It originates from China, from the late Qing period, where this type of vessel \u2014 known as a dou (\u6597) \u2014 was used as a standardised grain measure in rural markets and granaries.<\/p>\n

Painted grain measures were part of the daily equipment of Chinese markets until the early twentieth century. The central character g\u014dng<\/em> (\u516c) \u2014 visible on the front face \u2014 means “public” or “communal”, identifying the basket as a certified instrument for collective transactions. Lateral inscriptions typically named the guild, the granary or the calibration period.<\/p>\n

It is built in solid wood, with boards joined edge-to-edge and reinforced by small internal battens. The central handle, dovetailed into the base, divides the interior into two symmetrical compartments and allows the basket to be carried in one hand. The trapezoidal form \u2014 narrow base, open mouth \u2014 eased filling and emptying without spilling.<\/p>\n

The painted decoration is organised in circular medallions framed by a radial border, set on each of the four faces. Within each medallion appears a single character \u2014 among them g\u014dng<\/em> (\u516c, public) and other administrative ideograms \u2014 flanked by vertical columns of cursive calligraphy in black ink. The palette combines the black of the pigments with an earthy red ground and the natural tone of the wood, in an austere and strongly graphic composition.<\/p>\n

The patina is warm and honest: the wood is darkened by decades of handling, with small splits at the joints and traces of the original red pigments still legible beneath the black. Every scratch and chip preserves the material trace of its communal use \u2014 this is not a retroactively decorative object, but a working piece that has reached us intact.<\/p>\n

It sits naturally in interiors with a wabi-sabi, japandi or contemporary rustic register. It works as a decorative vessel in an entrance, as a magazine holder beside a sofa, as a basket for candles or yarn in a living room, or as a standalone object on a low cabinet, where the painted calligraphy reads as the only graphic note of the composition.<\/p>\n

Details<\/strong><\/p>\n