DESCRIPTION
An attractive pair of Chinese black lacquered bedside cabinets, decorated throughout with gilt and red Chinoiserie motifs and fitted with silvered-metal mounts.
Each cabinet has a rectangular top above a single drawer and a pair of cupboard doors, the fronts richly hand decorated with stylised figures, animals, foliage and scrolling motifs. The drawer and cupboard doors retain decorative silvered-metal fittings, including characteristic shaped lock plates and drop-ring handles.
The black lacquer provides a particularly effective background to the warm red and gilt decoration, and the pair have a wonderfully decorative appearance while remaining very practical pieces of furniture.
Their compact proportions make them particularly suitable as bedside cabinets or nightstands, although they would work equally well as lamp tables or small occasional cabinets in both traditional and contemporary interiors.
DIMENSIONS
Height: 60 cm
Width: 40 cm
Depth: 30 cm
CONDITION
The cabinets are in good, solid and usable condition and present very attractively as a pair.
There are marks, knocks, scratches and areas of wear to the lacquer and decoration commensurate with age and use, including some rubbing and small losses, particularly around the edges and corners, and some areas have had the paintwork touched up. The silvered-metal fittings have developed some age-related wear and patination.
Overall, the cabinets retain a strong decorative appearance, with the beautifully contrasting red and gilt decoration giving them considerable character and presence.