Red Lacquer Wedding Cabinet - 19thC

An exceptionally good quality Chinese Wedding Cabinet from Shanxi with painted scenes of idyllic home life.
Many beautifully painted lucky symbols on this piece, including an elephant, tiger & monkey. Illustrating part of a classical poem perhaps.
Lacquer cabinets were often given as wedding gifts - usually in pairs, better quality cabinets were made from Elm.

Lacquer has a long history in Chinese furniture and has been used for over 2000 years.
It's is a resin made from the sap of the Rhus verniciflua tree, red is the most commonly used colour, black is much less common.
Chinese wedding cabinets are usually decorated with gold leaf or coloured lacquer, but original pieces were not usually decorated on the sides.
Sadly during the cultural revolution some beautiful furniture suffered with peoples faces purposely rubbed out.

Colours, such as green, blue, yellow and pink are only found in modern reproductions.
From China

118.5 x 54 x 184 (wxdxh cms)

UK Delivery Charge - except Highlands & Islands £80
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