A hardwood dragon cabinet, Qing dynasty 18/19th Century.
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The rectangular cabinet has canted shoulder with a hidden compartment to the top section, opens from the right side, the top also has a fretworked display area. The pair of doors are decorated with fierce five clawed dragons chasing the flaming pearl. Silver inlay. decorated with fierce dragons in relief. Silver inlay. One hidden drawer to the top part. Two doors that opens up to a set of four drawers and a shelfves. Heigth 48 cm. Length 37,5 cm. Depth 18,5 cm.
Wear, cracks du to dryness of the material.
Provenance
From the Collection of Gustaf Wallenberg (1863-1939). Gustaf Wallenberg was a Swedish business man, diplomat and active politician. He was the son of André Oscar Wallenberg, founder of Stockholm Enskilda Bank (today SEB, and grandfather of Raoul Wallenberg (1912-47?). After a career in the Swedish Navy he turned to the business world and was very active in striving to better the transoceanic shipping industry. Something that came in handy when he in 1908 successfully negotiated with the Qing court in Beijing about a friendship, trade and navigation treaty. The collection was acquired between 1906 and 1918 when Wallenberg was the Swedish Envoyé in Tokyo. From 1907 he was also accredited for Beijing and came to spend time in both countries as the Swedish Ambassador. Mr Wallenberg came to be in China in dramatic part of its history, when a lot of items came on the market and when the golden era of collecting Chinese works of art started in Europe. Thence by descent.