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CHESTS, OPERA TRUNKS AND BOXES
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282370 - Shanxi - Late 19^th C.

Trunks or chests fulfil much the same storage function as cabinets in a Chinese household, and, like cabinets, they come in a huge variety of sizes - some as big as a bed, others as tiny as a matchbox. The larger sizes were used primarily for seasonal clothes and bedding while smaller sizes held items ranging from hair ornaments to important documents. Chests were also used for travelling. They exist in all kind of colours but mainly in red, which is the colour for happiness. Painted trunks with Chinese people or sceneries were used for storage of clothes in the opera.

Details play a very important role in Chinese furniture. Whether used for practicalities (hinges, handles, ...) or just from decorative point (paintings of daily Chinese life), they were planed into the overall aesthetic at the design stage. Chinese metal smiths were skilled in firing decorative hardware to perfection, but were also preoccupied with complex metallurgical formulas to create alloys that had unsurpassed strength and a range of different hues. The hardware handles depicted a variety of animals, fish and birds, with each their specific meaning.