Antique Lacquer Cabinet on Carved Stand with Interior Drawer, China (16445LME) $450

Description

This small elm cabinet is from Fujian province known for its unique style of highly decorative vernacular furniture. Large and small items were constructed with mortise-and-tenon joinery that made pieces stable, lengthened their life, and allowed woods to adapt to Asia’s variability in humidity and temperature. Pleasing a new wealthy merchant class, vernacular furniture was often constructed in a red lacquer frame with doors, gilt borders, and auspicious symbols easily understood by an uneducated the nouveau riche class who favored red as the color of fu (blessings, prosperity and happiness). The left door panel portrays a magpie on plum tree branch and the right one has another magpie with a chrysanthemum below. The magpie (xique) is the bird of joy and happiness (xi) and, as xi appears in both words, they are a verbal pun meaning double happiness. This pun is echoed visually by a magpie in each adjoining panel. In the right panel, the magpie and chrysanthemum mean “May the whole family be happy,” an indirect wish for sons. Blue magpies have long tails and are called and “ribbon-tailed” as their tails are similar to a long ribbon (shou), a pun on longevity (shou). As one panel has a plum (symbol of longevity) tree with plum blossoms having 5 leaves they are linked to and are a wish for the Five Joys/Happinesses: health, wealth, longevity, a life of virtue and a peaceful death. Cabinets with these symbols were perfect gifts for newlyweds as a desire for double happiness, a long and fruitful marriage with sons and the Five Blessings is central to and covers all Chinese cultural goals. Often placed next to or near a kang, the Chinese platform used for working, living, sleeping, and entertaining, the small cabinets were convenient for storage and low enough to double as a small table. It has a special stand, horseshoe feet and opens to a wide interior drawer. The sparkling border around the doors is inset with crushed shells, and the metal pulls on the doors and drawer are original. The lacquer frame is in excellent condition while the raised painted panels have cracks and some paint losses.