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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;AuDragon, post: 382251, member: 6974&quot;]Hi abc.It is probably Chinese and appears to be made of Elm wood which is quite a popular lightweight furniture timber. Hard to guess its origin but probably mainland China or Hong Kong. This would depend on family travels or work and any other connection with a particular region in Asia. There are thousands of new and recent versions of this Wedding Cabinet, but this one looks like it has some age based on the wear near the drawers and the doors. Based on what I can see I would estimate the latter part of the Qing dynasty so early 1900&#039;s or perhaps Republic period as recent as 1949. However, the Chinese are master craftspeople when it comes to aging furniture, so it is often hard to tell. The finish is called red lacquer, which is also very common and popular. This appears to me to be a &quot;functional&quot; piece of furniture, as opposed to high quality decorative or top end manufacture. However, it looks solid, well made and was probably a prized possession in the household. Also, it doesn&#039;t look split or twisted or warped, so well looked after apart from usual wear and tear.&nbsp; It would have been factory made but by hand.</p><p>The simple butterfly door plate is gorgeous and certainly adds to the cabinet. I haven&#039;t seen one this ornate before. Is there a place for a key to slide through to lock the doors? I can&#039;t see the necessary opposite holes.</p><p>You haven&#039;t given any dimensions (always helpful when seeking opinions) but I would guess about 1700 x 1200 as opposed to a smaller bedside table. The two inner drawers are typical of this design, and originally it would have been the main &quot;wardrobe&quot; and probably the only piece of furniture in the bedroom, apart from the bed.&nbsp; </p><p>I would expect to find only woodworking joints such as mortise and tenon, dovetail or butt joints and there should not be any nailed or screwed parts.</p><p>I am fascinated by the metal plate near the bottom two drawers, can you tell what that was used for? Some more pics would help.</p><p>In Australia, these pieces are now selling for just a few hundred dollars, but that could be different in other countries. You will find lots of reference images on google under &quot;Chinese wedding cabinet&quot;. </p><p>I love these cabinets (I have 2 smaller ones) and hope you find a really good use for it. Enjoy[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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