Chinese Opera box what's going on with it?

Hi just wondering if you can help me work out what the story is with this opera box.
The sides appear to be painted a different color but it's possible that that was done originally maybe? The wear at the interface of the sides the top and the front (the edges) rolls around. If the sides were switched out, they were replaced a long time ago.
The hinges seem to have been replaced. And the repairs on the inside the metal plates don't seem that old.

I considered whether this could be a reproduction that is deliberately aged but I'm not sure. The wear seems pretty comprehensive particularly on the front.

It's quite a light timber. The whole thing is not heavy

To clean it up I was thinking of putting some Chinese ink all over the sides and top to just kind of tie it in together. Then coating the whole lot in beeswax.

 

photo's not coming thru..............

 

Photos first set

 

Second set of photos

 

And the other thing about it is when you photograph it up close the camera picks up the colors and lightens it and it looks quite stunning but these photos in this particular post right here is what it looks like ordinarily. It just kind of looks dark and beat up lol

 

& it is beat up....but it's nice and looks as though someone wanted it to continue living for a while longer..!

 

What do you think about my proposal to stain the top and sides to try to make it look less rough. I won't touch the front

 

I would advise against using beeswax on East Asian lacquer. Museums have bad experiences with beeswax causing metal corrosion on lacquer (Asian black lacquer contains iron) and 'blooming' of beeswax.
I would use a microcrystalline wax such as Renaissance wax.

I would leave it as is, just coat it gently with microcrystalline wax.
If the top and sides bother you, a nice embroidered silk cloth can cover those.

 

I'd leave bad enough alone. I don't know enough about proper wax to weigh in, but usually with old stuff like this, the best option is to dust it off and keep it out of direct sunlight.

 

But it looks ugly.
And it's not worth much. Or at least it didn't cost me much.
No one would want to buy it have in such a scraped-up condition so it's better to fix it isn't it?
I mean it's not like a really old thing worth so much that keeping it original matters more than making it look less rubbishy is it?
@Any Jewelry ?

 

Better scraped and original than "fixed", aka badly damaged. I'd only repaint if I found something like this already scraped to the bare wood. It looks old, not rubbishy. Think of it as a crustoration in box form.

 

I think a coat of wax would do wonders for this. It will preserve the "patina" and enhance the overall look.

 

So this is after I put Chinese ink on it although I think it was Japanese ink made in China but it was a genuine black ink.
Then I put beeswax on it.

You can still see the original paint and you can even see some of the reddish undercoat. I.e you can still see the age on it.

Does it kind of look restored and has it lost a bit of authenticity yes but does it look better for having inside absolutely and so I'm happy with the outcome.

If I was to do something like this again I would dilute the ink a little bit more.

I think the outcome though is a good balance between protecting something and actually having something that's usable.

From what I can see these things sell for about a thousand dollars Australian if they are a little bit nicer, so I ultimately didn't feel it was the sort of thing that was untouchable.

I got it off Facebook and they didn't seem to be too many people interested anyway I think people have only have so much tolerance for things that look too beat up. But I'm quite convinced now I could easily resell this if I wanted to but I gave it to my girlfriend.

 

As long as your girlfriend likes it.... She can still put a nice silk embroidery over the top and sides, but she will have to deal with the beeswax issue at a later stage.

 

I see no problem with what you did. Did you use the bees wax on the front as well?

 

There is no problem now, but given the experience of many museums, it is likely that problems will appear over time. It isn't simply a wooden box, it is a wooden box covered in Chinese black lacquer.

 

Two words: linseed oil. ((sigh))

 

Olive or any other oil. I was taught as a little girl to always use a natural oil on Chinese lacquer. That was the treatment before microcrystalline waxes became available to the public, and it was so easy my mother let me do it at a tender age. My go-to oil is rice bran.
Later I learned about the damage caused over time by beeswax on Chinese black lacquer.
But I've done my bit and passed it on, the rest is out of my hands.

 

Linseed was the fashionable oil to use on Victorian furniture back when. It ruined the finish over time, and anyone into old wood here in the USA curses its name. Beeswax is great stuff, but only on bare wood. I hope the poor Chinese box survives.

 

I can imagine linseed oil causing damage.