This antique Chinese wedding cabinet with gilt dragons is a 19^th century piece from Shanxi province that would have come from a high status home. It an an exceptionally good example of a Shanxi Wedding Cabinet decorated with original red lacquer and beautifully painted dragons mirroring one another on a background of clouds and mountains. 

The doors feature opposing chilong dragons. Chilong 螭龍 are hornless, clawless, youthful, baby dragons. They're characteristically playful guardians and often said to have come from the sea. Chilong (or chi long / chi-long) dragons symbolised beauty, romance, and good luck and protected against fire. This may go some way to explaining why they are commonly found featuring on Chinese roofs & architecture. Chilong dragons are sometimes seen featured on clothing, architecture, bronzes & jade items and examples of use can be seen as early as 239 BC. 

A cabinet like this one would have come from a wealthy household and the dragons would have originally been gilt. This style of cabinet is often referred to as a wedding cabinet. and would have stored scholarly items. 

Lacquer cabinets were often given as wedding gifts - usually, in pairs, better quality cabinets were made from Elm. This piece has two outward opening doors with a locking plate in the center. The interior is split into a lower storage space and a top storage space with a shelf. Between the two storage spaces are three useful drawers. 

Lacquer has a long history in Chinese furniture and has been used for over 2000 years. It is a resin made from the sap of the Rhus verniciflua tree, red is the most commonly used colour, black is much less common.

Dimensions:

134 x 57 x 197  (wxdxh cms)

From China

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