Scholar's cabinet; China, late 19th century.

Scholar's cabinet; China, late 19th century.
Jumu (elm) wood.
Presents losses of the pictorial layer in the interior.
Measurements: 137 x 76 x 47 cm.
The scholar's cabinet, known in Chinese as shugui or wenfanggui, is one of the most representative pieces of cultured domestic furniture in Imperial China, particularly associated with the figure of the Confucian scholar or wenren. This furniture, which reached its greatest development during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, was an essential part of the scholar's study or cabinet, a space for reading, calligraphy, painting and intellectual contemplation.
The scholar's cabinet fulfilled a dual function: practical and symbolic. Functionally, it served to store books, manuscripts, brushes, inkstones, seals and stationery, i.e., the instruments associated with the "four arts of the scholar". Its design usually included closed compartments with doors, open shelves and hidden drawers.
From a symbolic perspective, the cabinet represented the moral and intellectual status of its owner. In the Confucian tradition, the domestic study was not just a physical space, but a realm of personal cultivation and spiritual refinement.
In their structure and ornamentation, scholar's closets reflect the aesthetics of emptiness and proportion characteristic of Ming furniture, where elegance lies in constructional purity rather than decorative exuberance.