Display Cabinet or Etagere, China, Late 19th-Early 20th Century

Late 19th century English chinoiserie decorated display cabinet. The hinged top opens to reveal a remote document storage.

An impressive pagoda form carved hardwood display cabinet with bone and boxwood inlay, crafted for the Peranakan (Straits-Chinese) community in Southeast Asia, mostly likely Malaysia, Indonesia, or Singapore, early 20th century. The large display cabinet with four wide open shelves for display, set on four clawed feet, and surmounted by a peaked roof topped by a tiered pagoda with carved figures to the interior. A further set of pagodas with figures adorns each corner. The peaked roof decorated with a pair of magnificent phoenixes in flight flanking a large peony spray and a roundel featuring the goddess Magu and an attendant. The decoration of carved and inlaid boxwood. Clouds of carved bone scattered throughout. The sides of the roof each with a pair of sinuous dragons among clouds, a "shou" (longevity) medallion between them, all of carved and inlaid boxwood. The sides of the cabinet decorated with images of carved and inlaid boxwood birds and flowers - the left side with peony, the right side with chrysanthemum. The roof with a carved and pierced gallery below featuring auspicious animals and fruit...