Featured Help with the age of this Chinese Shrine cabinet

I would really like to know more about this Chinese Shrine cabinet. Like age, if is real or a new modern aged... To me looks really old but I may be mistaken. Any help would be really appreciated

 

Welcome to the forum, Roxy.
Could you post full image pictures, please. Also of the back, corners, details. Anything that can give us a clue as to age.
Here is info on how to post pictures:

 

Right, I was just figuring out how to do it... It's harder to upload from my phone, anyway I hope you can see them now

 

Yes, I can, that's a good start, but could you click on the full image button please?

 

Sorry, still learning, tell me if it's OK now

 

Perfect, thanks.

 

So any idea?? Any information about design, age or anything??? Thanks a lot

 

Hard to tell with this stuff. Seems to have some age but quality of the carving makes me think this is no older than Mid last century ..... if that old. Have never seen one with such a whimsical smirking bat before Me thinks this not a good sign for being antique.

 

bats are good
http://gotheborg.com/glossary/bat.shtml

 

i love it!! very nice

 

Roxy, I like the cabinet, but it isn't old. Telltale signs are the sloppy construction, like the corners, and the rough sides of the carving. It looks like someone did a nice job carving the panels, and someone else snatched them from his hands, dabbed some paint on them, and said: "there, finished". Another sign is the grime in the corners. No self-respecting Chinese family would let dirt build up in the corners of their ancestral shrine.
It is an ancestral shrine cabinet in Peranakan/Straits Chinese style, which is influenced by the Cantonese style. Probably made in China, maybe in Indonesia, which is one of the Peranakan cultural areas.

Here is a 19th century one, you can see how nicely rounded the sides of the carving and the corners are:


http://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/1944.html

 

yes i saw this one, very fancy

roxy's piece probably comes from a regular household and not high quality like the one above, but could well be mid last century re verybrad's comment. i am more familiar with this kind of ancestral shrine ..


as for dirt buildup, i think it would have been cleaned properly when it was still in use. the seller was probably trying to use this as a selling point? anyway, my not very self-respecting chinese family has dirt and dust build-up to our ears .... we clean only once a year now!!

 

Phaik, that is normal dust, highly respectable imo. Someone on the forum once called it 'frosting'.
On the shrine in Roxy's pictures it looks like grime, stuck to the surface. It is a 'trick of the trade' that I used to see on the cargo loads of freshly made 'antique' furniture that came here from China 20-30 yrs ago. A lot of that furniture was very nice, but not antique.
Btw, do you see the difference in quality of the carving on your family's 'frosted' furniture, and the shrine in Roxy's photos?

These are two panels salvaged from a Peranakan house on Java ca 1930. The bigger one is 19th century, the small one could be older. They were outside, so there is weathering, but no rough edges, no grime, just natural wear. The black line on the side of the bigger one is paint.

 

I see what you mean about the sloppy work on it. As for the dirt I bought it from an auction and it was maybe worse but I will take good care of it. Thank you for your help, very appreciated

 

Thank you for your reply. Very helpful!

 

i have learnt so much from @Any Jewellery
her long comments are like mini history lessons!!

 

I agree with the above, Thank You AJ !! .. Joy.

 

I agree with you, it looks like made after 1990s or even 2010s.
The wood is easy to be processed like aged by using tea or some chemical materials.

 

Yes, the time frame of the cargo loads of freshly made 'antique' furniture I mentioned earlier.
It is such a pity that rough, badly constructed, and dirty is often equated with antique, when antique Chinese and Peranakan furniture is so nicely made. The picture of Phaik's family piece is an example of good carving with natural aging.
That recent 'antique' furniture is very attractive, on the face of it. If they just paid attention to the construction and finish and didn't try to pass it off as antique, it would be beautiful traditional or replica furniture.