Cabinets & Storage Furniture

A tall red elm cabinet in a Shanxi farmhouse, its lacquer worn thin. Antique cabinets and storage furniture come from China, Tibet, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, Burma, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Italy and Ghana. Chinese elm cabinets from Shanxi, Hunan and Jiangsu, many lacquered in red or black over softwood, include wardrobes, altar cabinets and side cabinets with drawers; some still carry Cultural Revolution slogans urging higher production for the people. Tibetan and Mongolian cabinets and trunks in pine are painted with Buddhist emblems, dragons and tigers. Japanese tansu, Korean bandaji, Chinese apothecary cabinets, carved cedar chests from Pakistan’s Swat Valley and brass-bound Ashanti boxes add their own forms.

The flood of Chinese cabinets that left warehouses after the Cultural Revolution has slowed to a trickle. A tall elm wardrobe holds a wall like architecture; a low painted chest works as a coffee table or hall bench. Things put away, beautifully.