Japanese chest of drawers (tansu) Japan, Meiji period circa 1860 -1900

The frame of this chest of drawers is made of keyaki wood (zelkova serrata) - fully pegged. The style combines power and oriental influence. The craftsman sought the balance between wood and ironwork. Due to its age, this piece of furniture shows multiple wear to the orange/mauve lacquer, shocks, scratches. Ironwork of the locks and corners pitted - the side handles are oxidized - one broken. Like the vast majority of Edo-Meiji furniture, the keys are lost => it thus has the "wabi sabi" aspect dear to the Japanese: it is a spiritual and aesthetic concept, derived from Zen Buddhist principles. "Wabi" means simplicity, melancholy, nature - "sabi" is the alteration of time, the taste for aged things, the patina of objects. Wabi refers to modesty in the face of natural phenomena, and sabi, the feeling in the face of things in which we can detect the work of time or men. It is very sturdy. We have not waxed or stained it. Weight about 40 kg - it takes two people to lift it.

Ref. : XDA8GPDA