Featured Chinese shrine cabinet. Need help dating it.

Hello I am new to the boards but I'm so glad that I found it. my wife and I own a small antique shop and were able to date the things that we've owned or sold. But this one has me stumped. Initially I thought it was just a regular China cabinet but after doing some research I determined it's possibly a antique shrine cabinet. As you can tell by the pictures the dovetails are not even and there's no consistency which at lease dates it before 1860 but the rear part of the drawer has only one dovetail slot which in my research suggests that is possibly 18th century. It is a magnificent cabinet either way and we plan to keep it for a long time. I just love learning about these pieces that would never have seen before.

 

Welcome to the forum, Johnny B.

It is a beautiful Chinese display cabinet, not a shrine cabinet.
Shrine cabinets are small cabinets with doors, behind which there is room for a home altar:


http://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/1796.html

Dating Chinese furniture by the type of dovetailing can be tricky. Asian countries still use old style and irregular dovetails.
It looks like the red lacquer/paint has been aged artificially.
Could you show pictures of the entire cabinet? And detailed ones of the carving?

 

I don't see an option for "full image" when I go to upload it just says photo too large. So I shrunk them

 

If you're on your computer, this might be of help to you!! And WELCOME, Johnny BG!!!! Images must be under 1 MB.....