Antique Blanket Chest

This vintage blanket chest slash comb chest with beautiful carvings needs no accessories. The antique blanket chest is in good vintage condition and still has the original lock (see photos). The antique oriental kis is marked Zee’s Brothers Woodwork Co. The vintage blanket chest is 91 cm long, 43 cm wide and 43 cm high. So plenty of room to store all your blankets, bedding or craft supplies.

George Zee & Co was another established furniture maker in Shanghai who moved to Hong Kong and found success with American clients.

According to one of his clients Chaplain Thomas Parham Jr. (who was the first African-American captain in the U.S. Navy), George Zee (徐國祥, Xu Guoxiang) originally studied to become a Presbyterian minister at Princeton Seminary in the U.S., but went into the furniture business in Shanghai to support his large family in the 1930s.

He proved to be a shrewd businessman and was good at attracting Western customers. Soon his George Zee & Co (Xu Hai Ji in Chinese) was one of the leading Chinese furniture makers with wood carvings in Shanghai, with its flagship store at 142 Nanking Road.

Part of George Zee’s success was his emphasis on product quality: each product was meter tested before it left the factory, had a serial number and came with a guarantee that it would never split or warp thanks to his special kiln-drying technique.