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Classical
Chinese furniture is a true celebration of artistry and craftsmanship.
Furniture of a classical Chinese style, weather a genuine antique or a
reproduction, can give great pleasure to its owner, reflecting worldly tastes
and a sense of elegant. There are so many elements that make classical Chinese
furniture unique. One of the crucial elements is the use of prized tropical
hardwood material to construct these pieces of art.
Basically,
there are two main categories of woods used in the construction of classical
Chinese furniture, Yingmu or hardwood and Baimu or softwood. Yingmu refers to
richly grain dense tropical hardwoods of which majority Ming & Qing
furniture was made. But it is important to add that it also refers to beautiful
quality grain, streaking and colour, as in Chinese sense of beauty, grain,
colour, texture and marking, represent the main characteristics in order to
distinguish fine quality woods. That is why among the Yingmu category, we find
woods that are not considered hardwood by Western standards, and why according
to Chinese definition, Baimu includes all the woods not included in Yingmu
category. Among the Yingmu category, the following are the main woods:
Huanghuali, Zitan, Heitan, Suan Zhi, Jichimu,Tieli, Nanmu etc. As for the
Baimu, the most common and widely used woods are Yumu (Northern Elmwood) and Jumu (Southern Elmwood) etc.
Burl
wood or Yingzimu, is the wood harvest from a large knot or twisted root. It can
come from any kind of tree and it is appreciated for its textures and patterns
that is why it is usually used as a decorative insert.
Wumu,
its popular name in Sichuan and westerners call it “the
Oriental Magic Tree”. These names apply specially to the precious old trees
like Nanmu, Teak, Xiangzhang etc have been buried deep under the earth due to
natural events such as geological changes, compressed and air-tied for thousand
of years until they were surfaced again.
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Zitan Mu (Red Sandlewood)
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Zitan
is an evergreen tree, and grows extremely slow. It takes at least 300 years to
reach about 9 meter in height and few pieces are known to be greater than 25cm
in width. The growth rings of a Zitan tree are spaced so close together that
there are almost impossible to distinguish without magnification.
The
wood is blackish-purple to blackish-red in colour. Antique Zitan furniture is so rare that when
items become available, the command premium prices.
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Heitan Mu (Ebony Wood)
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One of the
hardest and heaviest tropical hardwoods from Africa rainforest. The sapwood is clearly
distinguishable from heartwood, the latter being fine hazel-brown colour with
mottled and striped with black. It was widely use in the ancient kingdoms in India, Persia and Africa for scepters and as tribute. Due to its
colour, durability, hardness and ability to take a high polish, it was chosen
to produce high quality classical Chinese furniture.
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Suan Zhi Mu (Hongmu, Chinese Mahogany)
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Frequently
called Hongmu. No early references to Hongmu have yet been discovered; however,
the equivalent Southern Chinese term ‘suanzhi’ appears during middle Qing
period and its literal meaning ‘sourwood’ that describes the pungent odor like
vinegar emitted when it is worked. Most of the overly ornate carving Qing
period furniture is made from Hongmu. There is also a few species that are very
similar to Huanghuali.
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Jichi Mu (Chicken Wing Wood)
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An unusual
hardwood with an equally unique name – Chicken Wing. When cut tangentially, its
purplish-brown flatten wood grain patterns resemble the patterns of bird feathers.
Twenty-six species may grow in China, mainly in Hainan Island & Fujian
province. Most used in Ming to Mid Qing dynasties to produce high quality
furniture.
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Nanmu
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Nanmu
is a large, slow growing tree of the evergreen laurel family that with a long
straight truck ranging from 10-40 meter in height and 50-100 in diameter.
Mostly found south of Yangzi River and due to highly resistant to decay,
Nanmu was frequently used for boat-building and architectural woodworking for
instance the world famous Forbidden City Palace in Beijing. And because it polishes to a shimmering
surface and has smooth textures, it was also prized as furniture-making wood.
Shimmering characteristics also qualify that which is termed ‘jinsi’
(golden-thread) Nanmu.
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