Chinese Side Cabinet with 2 Doors

Doors with raised panels, a scalloped skirt, and a latch that clearly takes itself seriously.

This side cabinet with 2 doors is from Shanxi Province, China, and dates to the mid 19th century. It is lacquered elm wood. As original period furniture became harder to find, restoration artists began salvaging fragments from incomplete pieces to make complete ones, and eventually full reproductions began to surface. Small cupboard with an overhanging top, two framed panel doors held by a metal bar latch, and a decorative cut-out apron along the bottom. Warm reddish-brown finish showing strong figure and rubbed edges. It is 21.5 inches long, 14.5 deep and 25.75 high.

Compact, cheerful, and trimmed with a bit of fretwork flair.