Two-door Linen Cabinet with Character on Doors - Spruce wood

Origin: Jiangxi

Period: 20th AD

Timber: Spruce

Size: 104x47x164

Details: peony on side panels; han-jin (Han dynasty silk) on left door; tang-lin (tang dynasty silk) on right door; on bottom panels floral motif from left to right: peach blossom; pomegranate; plum blossom; peony

This cabinet dates from the early 20th century and was made in the Jiangxi region of China. It is crafted from spruce. 

There are decorative panels on the doors featuring various carved motifs. The characters on the doors are han-jin on the left (Han dynasty silk) and tang-lin on the right (Tang dynasty silk). The panels on the sides of the doors feature peonies, a symbol of wealth an honour. The peony is pronounced “fugui hua” in Chinese. Fugui is a homonym of the phrase wealth and honour. The peony flower is therefore a wish for wealth and honour, traditionally gained through success in the imperial examinations and a subsequent career in the imperial administration. 

The lower panels feature carvings of from left to right; peach blossom, pomegranates, plum blossom and peonies. According to legend Xiwang Mu, or Queen Mother of the West, lived in the mountains and had a peach orchard where the peach trees took 3,000 years to mature and the fruit took 3,000 years to ripen. Whoever was invited to eat the fruit would live for over 1,000 years. The peach flower is therefore a symbol of long life. The pomegranate symbolises fertility and, being full of seeds,numerous male progeny. Plum blossom is perhaps one of the most favoured of Chinese flowers. It is the flower of winter, but as the first plant to flower in the New Year, it represents the coming of spring and rejuvenation. Each petal of the plum blossom represents one of the Five Blessings i.e. long life, happiness, good health, love of virtue and a natural death. 

The doors of the cabinet can be easily removed. Fitted in the back of each door panel, using dovetail joints, are transverse braces. These fully support and secure the panel in the doorframe members. The door panels are thick, but are bevelled into the frame, to further strengthen the doors frame. Inside the cabinet are two drawers which would have been used to store small items. The top of the drawers serve as an additional shelf, to complement the other shelf in the cabinet. There is a concealed door in the base which lifts to enable items to be stored and hidden away.

The earliest forms of the cabinet were boxes that in turn developed into larger chests. The basic form of the chest appears to have continued until the advent of the chair and a more sophisticated mode of living, perhaps around the Song dynasty (1127A.D. - 1279A.D.). The addition of doors to the chest and then feet reflected a different way of storing articles. By the Ming dynasty (1368A.D. – 1644A.D.) cabinets appeared in different forms and a variety of sizes and designs. Some had specific uses, such as book cabinets, kitchen cabinets and linen cabinets, but in the main cabinets performed a flexible role. From these humble beginnings, cabinets evolved to become works of art as well as being functional items representing lifestyles, beliefs and tastes of the time. One feature of Chinese cabinets is that many of them have doors and centre stiles that could be easily removed. This design served two purposes. Firstly, in a society that folded its clothes rather than hung them, removing the centre stile meant long items such as robes could be neatly stored across the length of the shelf. Secondly, being able to remove doors also allowed the user to store large items and to then close the doors around them.