Chinese Cabinet with 4 Drawers & 2 Doors

Flaking red paint, a round brass lock plate, and four small drawers that have clearly seen things.

This cabinet with 4 drawers & 2 doors is from Shanxi 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. Two upper doors in weathered grey-green meet at a large round metal plate. Below sit four small drawers with dark pulls, their red paint chipped back to bare wood. The top overhangs slightly and the legs are plain squared posts. It is 33.75 inches long, 17.5 deep and 48 high.

It wears its peeling coat like a badge of honor.