Chinese Dovetailed Chest with Handles

A chest with two loop handles and a lock, built like it expected to be hauled.

This dovetailed chest with handles is from Hunan Province, China, and dates to the mid 19th century. It is 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. Boxy form with a flat lid, two metal handles on the front plate and a keyhole escutcheon below. Corners show joined notches. The grain is bold and orange with scattered darker marks, and low blocks hold it off the floor. It is 38 inches long, 23 deep and 25.5 high.

It has packed for every trip and refuses to unpack.