Cabinet with 2 Doors

Red lacquer with patches gone to black, and a brass moon holding the doors shut.

This cabinet with 2 doors dates to the late 19th century and is made of lacquered elm wood. Cabinets like this stored clothing, bedding and household goods, and lacquer's hard skin, built from many coats, helped protect the wood from damp and insects. Here the red surface is crazed and pitted, with dark patches at the upper corners and along the frame. A round brass plate with two pulls sits at the center of the doors. Two small drawers with bail handles run below. Seventy and a half inches high, 49.5 long and 20.5 deep.

Its best years may be behind it. They are still showing.