The red cabinet

Large red cabinet from Shanxi province, ca. 1850. This cabinet, with its marvelous proportions, needs a lot of attention. At some point, probably in the last 40 years, each door was given three brass hinges, evidenced by the marks on the vertical posts, next to the doors, and the original, doweled wooden hinges have already been replaced. Someone in years past replaced the original door pulls with two brass half plates, attached off center, perhaps the same person who attached the hinges, and neither set of hardware is correct.

This replaced hardware underscores the difficulty of accurately dating gardware on Chinese antiques. A 150-years-old cabinet may have hardware that is old – 100 or 150 years old – but not original.

Ps. The picture is a replica large red cabinet, but same style