Chinese Money Chest with Butterfly Mounts

The lid has a little hatch, in case the chest ever needs a back door.

This money chest with butterfly mounts is from Hebei Province, China, and dates to the mid 19th century. It is lacquered elm wood. Tibetans were traditionally semi-nomadic and owned few personal furnishings, so most Tibetan furniture stood in monasteries, and some of it was carted over the Himalayas to India as monasteries were destroyed. Square chest with a broad flat lid fitted with a sliding rectangular panel and a small metal ornament. Plain recessed panels on the sides, and short feet. Dark reddish-brown finish, with fine surface wear and a few marks. It is 21 inches long, 20.75 deep and 19.25 high.

Neat, squat and hiding something modest.