Chinese Cabinet with 2 Louvered Doors

Slatted upper doors let this tall cabinet breathe, plain boards below.

This cabinet with 2 louvered doors is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the mid 18th century. It is lacquered elm wood. Once China slowly opened to visiting diplomats and businessmen, a trickle of antique furniture leaving the country became a flood that lasted through the 1980s, the 1990s and into the early 2000s. Dark brown cabinet with two doors, the upper half filled with vertical spindles and the lower half with simple recessed panels. A band of drawer-like panel sits below, over short square legs. The finish is aged and uneven. It is 38 inches long, 26 deep and 83 high.

Tall, ventilated and thoroughly practical.