Ming Black/Red Lacquered Chest
Mid 17th C. (Late Ming)
Original lacquer over core wood; original hardware
Shanxi
37½” h. 34” w. 21” d.

This Ming chest is quite rare. It was originally designed for a prominent family. It is very well-constructed. The top has a very thick coat of black lacquer, which with age, has worn down to reveal the core wood. Lacquering is a very labor-intensive process. Lacquer is messy stuff, difficult to work with (has to be done in a wet room), and takes a very long time for each thin layer to dry before the next can be applied. So, the thicker the coat of lacquer, the more work it involves, and the more expensive the piece of furniture. Only a family of wealth can afford a piece such as this book chest.

This chest is quite well-made. In the front, the frame members around the body as well as those around the door panels have edge-beading. The red door panels are decorated with the popular “Hundred Antiquities” design favored by the scholar-official class. The main body sits on two base sections. The recessed upper section is decorated with four “taohuan” panels separated by short struts. Taohuan is a general Chinese term used for narrow (and usually horizontally oriented) decorative panels. Each panel here has a raised border surrounding an oblong with lobed ends. Taohuan panels are used in early traditional style furniture throughout China. The bottom base section has a black scrolling design over a slightly recessed red ground. Decorative boss-head nails, a characteristic of many Yuan and Ming furniture, can be seen on the black surface.

A special merit of this chest is the survival of all original hardware, except for the locking pin. This is quite rare on Chinese furniture as during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, much metalwork was confiscated to be melted down for military and industrial use. The triple lock-plates and hinge-plates have big round decorative nail-heads that added distinction to the piece. The black marble slab on the top of the chest is added today to protect the lacquered top as much of the original thick lacquer has deteriorated due to age. Now any heavy decorative item can be safely placed on top.