Asian Style Furniture
Asian style furniture brings together centuries of cabinet-making traditions, from red lacquer cabinets to carved hardwood armchairs.
Asian Style Furniture
Asian style furniture encompasses traditional seating, tables, and storage pieces drawn from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean craft traditions. When searching for Asian style furniture, buyers encounter items ranging from nineteenth-century hardwood altars and horseshoe armchairs to early twentieth-century lacquered cabinets and side tables. These pieces reflect diverse regional aesthetics, including Chinoiserie interpretations, Qing Dynasty designs, and export pieces made for Western interiors.
The objects most frequently met on this page include red and black lacquered cupboards, nest of tables, console tables, and hardwood occasional furniture. Cabinets and chests utilise durable timbers like elm and zitan, while seating often takes the form of horseshoe armchairs or benches. Smaller items such as plant stands, torchères, and marble-topped tables appear alongside larger storage furniture.
Originating across different periods spanning the Victorian era through to the 1930s, these furnishings serve both practical storage and decorative display roles. The grouping includes distinct forms like marriage cabinets, larder cupboards, and bandaji chests alongside dining sets and day beds.
Materials and Construction
Makers utilised dense timbers including hardwood, elm, and zitan for structural stability and fine carving work. These woods support intricate relief carving on tables, chairs, and altar pieces without losing definition.
Lacquered surfaces feature prominently, built up in red or black layers on wood substrates to create smooth finishes. Iron, brass, and marble appear as supplementary materials for hinges, mounts, and table insets.
Asian Style Furniture Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical asking prices for asian style furniture among the pieces listed under this phrase on Sellingantiques today, from the lower quarter to the upper quarter. They describe what is for sale here now, not the wider market.
A stargazers chair provides an unusual spot to recline while contemplating the evening sky indoors.
Assessing Quality and Execution
Quality rests upon the depth and crispness of the hand-carving on hardwood elements like horseshoe armchairs and altar tables. Superior pieces display fluid lines in relief work and precise joinery that holds together large cabinets without modern fasteners.
Surface treatment dictates the distinction between standard and finer examples, particularly in lacquered pieces. Rich colour application, well-preserved gilding, and intact brass or iron hardware elevate the visual presence of cupboards and chests.
The Asian Style Furniture Glossary
- Chinoiserie
- European decorative style reflecting Chinese artistic influences, commonly applied to furniture through lacquered finishes and painted scenes.
- Altar Table
- Long, narrow table traditionally used in Chinese domestic and ceremonial settings, characterised by upturned flange ends.
- Shodona
- Japanese display cabinet featuring asymmetrical shelving and sliding doors, often associated with nineteenth-century craftsmanship.
- Bandaji
- Traditional Korean storage chest featuring prominent metal strapwork and hinges across an elm or wood body.
- Torchère
- Tall, slender stand designed to support a candle, lamp, or jardiniere plant pot.
Asian Style Furniture: Frequently Asked Questions
Where were these cabinets placed in a traditional home?
Marriage cabinets and large storage cupboards stood against walls in principal rooms to hold garments, linens, and valued household possessions. Their impressive scale and decorated lacquer surfaces made them focal points within domestic interiors.
Smaller side cabinets and altar tables served functional roles in reception spaces, holding ritual objects, porcelain, or decorative items beneath ancestral portraits.
How do I care for lacquered wood furniture?
Lacquered surfaces require gentle dusting with a soft, dry cloth to prevent scratching the delicate finish. Avoid placing these pieces in direct sunlight or near heat sources, which can cause the wood underneath to expand and the lacquer to crack.
Maintain a stable room humidity level to protect both the timber substrate and the historical lacquer layers from deteriorating over time.
How can I tell a nest of tables apart?
A nest of tables consists of a graded set where smaller tables slide neatly beneath the next largest one to save floor space. Makers constructed these sets in graduating dimensions using matching hardwoods or lacquered finishes.
Individual tables within the set often share identical leg carvings and surface details scaled down to fit the nesting sequence.