How many kinds of materials are there in Ming and Qing furniture?

In order to avoid being confused by the lack of knowledge about wood when choosing wood products as much as possible. Let me introduce the characteristics of several kinds of precious wood, which are often used in woodcarving and antique furniture.

Sandalwood rosewood (commonly known as lobular rosewood) scientific name: sandalwood rosewood.

Red sandalwood is fine in texture, heavy in wood, and the wood grain of good materials (generally referring to wild forests) is not obvious. When the sawdust of rosewood is put into liquor, it will immediately decompose into bright red, and form a viscous gel with liquor, which can be connected into lines when poured. This is an effective way to identify rosewood. Rosewood is mainly produced in India, and it is also produced in Yunnan, Guangdong and Guangxi in China, but its texture is not as good as India's. There are few big materials in rosewood, and the diameter of the material is generally less than 20 cm. Any bigger, it will be hollow and useless. The new section of rosewood is orange, red for a long time, purple and black for a long time, dark as paint, and almost no texture can be seen. Since ancient times, rosewood has been regarded as the most precious wood in China. Because it is too precious, rosewood utensils are not as good as those in Huang Huali. Although rosewood is not as gorgeous as Huang Huali, its quietness is unmatched by any wood.

Scientific name of Huang Huali (Huang Huali): Dalbergia odorifera.

The color of this material is quiet, just right, and the texture is hidden or present, vivid and changeable. Huanghuali varies in color from light yellow to purplish red, with solid wood and exquisite patterns, which are shaped like eight characters. When it was sawed, it was full of fragrance. Its distinctive feature is that the pattern has a surface, that is, the tree is the best and the flowers are thick and light. Another feature is that heartwood and sapwood are very different. Heartwood is reddish brown to dark reddish brown or purplish reddish brown with different shades and often dark brown stripes. Its sapwood is grayish yellow brown or light yellow brown. Huang Huali didn't have this name in ancient times, only the words "Hua Li" or "Hua Law", which was later named Huang Huali. At present, many Vietnamese Huang Huali are sold as Huang Huali in Hainan, and some people mislead Vietnamese Huang Huali into fragrant branches and pretend to be mahogany. In fact, Vietnamese Huang Huali has no scientific name, and it does not belong to the category of mahogany, which needs everyone's attention.

6 A, E, F, Q and A

Wenge

There are about 40 to 60 species of pterocarpaceae, and 26 species in China, mainly produced in Fujian province. It was renamed because of its beautiful pattern like chicken wings. Generally, craftsmen think that there are two kinds of wingwood: old and new. New wing wood is rough, purple-black, unclear in texture, hard and without rotation tendency, and sometimes it is easy to crack stubble. The texture of the old chicken wing wood is fine and fine, and the purple and brown shades alternate. In particular, the longitudinal section is fine and floating, with the brilliant and shining brilliance of birds like Toma Evelle. At present, most of the chicken wing wood on the market is new chicken wing wood.

ferreous mesua

Iron wood, or "iron plow wood" or "iron chestnut wood", grows the highest among several hardwoods and has low value. Tielimu sometimes has patterns as thick as chicken wings. Furniture factories used to use it as chicken wings. Tielimu is a tall evergreen tree with an upright trunk, with a height of more than ten feet and a diameter of more than ten feet. Native to East India. Both Guangdong and Guangxi are distributed in China: the wood is hard and durable, the heartwood is dark red, the color and texture are slightly similar to that of chicken wing wood, the texture is rough and the brown eyes are obvious. It is mainly used for buildings in tropical areas and is very durable. I saw a pair of old iron wooden boxes in Hebei the other day, which should be before the Republic of China. They are beautifully made and the price is only 4000 yuan. It's a pity that I have no money. It's a pity.

beechnut?

Beech is a kind of elm, produced in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places. It is also called elm or elm. Its wood is firm, beautiful in color, widely used and valuable. Its old wood is red, hence the name "blood beech". Also known as red beech. Stronger than ordinary wood, but not hardwood. Therefore, both old craftsmen and real Ming furniture lovers attach great importance to it and think that its artistic value and historical value should not be belittled because of poor materials. Beech wood is hard in texture, beautiful in color and pattern, and beautiful in large patterns, such as overlapping mountains, which are called "pagoda patterns" by carpenters.

sandal wood

Imported agarwood

Also known as Deep Water Fragrance, Cigarette Mouth Fragrance, Penglai Fragrance, Rice Fragrance, Lanzhi Fragrance, Qing Gui Xiang and so on. Resin-containing heartwood of Aquilaria Resinatum of Daphne family. Location: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iran, Thailand and other places.

The agarwood produced in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore is called Xinzhou Xiang, which has the best quality and lasting fragrance. The agarwood produced in Vietnam is called Cary, but its quality is inferior, and its fragrance is good and sweet, but it can't last long.

Imported agarwood is mostly cylindrical or irregular rod-shaped, and its surface is yellowish brown or grayish black; Hard and heavy, can sink into water or semi-sink into water; Strong smell, burning smoke billowing, rich aroma. Imported agarwood is slightly warm and bitter. It has the effects of promoting qi circulation, relieving pain, warming vomit and relieving asthma, and its curative effect is better than that of cedarwood incense.

Domestic agarwood

Also known as Shenshuixiang, Daphne, Erxiang, Shangxiang, Aquilaria Resinatum, Hainan Aquilaria Resinatum, Daughter Fragrant, Guanxiang and Lingnan Aquilaria Resinatum. Resin-containing heartwood of Aquilaria sinensis of Daphne family.

There are four specifications of agarwood: 1 No.1 incense (heavy and fragrant), No.2 incense (firm and fragrant), No.3 incense (loose and fragrant) and No.4 incense (loose and light). Its shape is irregular, the surface is mostly rotten wood-like, with knife marks and occasional holes, and black-brown resin and yellow-white wood stripes can be seen.

ebony

Ebony belongs to persimmon, mainly produced in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and other countries. The sapwood of ebony heartwood is obviously different, and the sapwood is white (yellowish brown or bluish gray) to light reddish brown; Heartwood black (chaotic black or slightly green jade color) and irregular black heartwood (alternating stripes). The wood is shiny and has no special smell. The texture is black and white until it is shallow and staggered, the structure is uniform and consistent, corrosion-resistant, durable, hard and delicate, and it is a very rare precious material for making furniture and handicrafts.

Green tan

Dalbergia odorifera mainly grows in subtropical areas, mainly distributed in India, Viet Nam and Africa, and also has a small amount in Yunnan, China. Because of its hard wood, pleasant aroma, rich colors and rich trace elements needed by human body. Among them, selenium and cobalt are anticancer substances, and their fragrance can only be volatilized above 35 degrees Celsius, while the normal body temperature of the human body is 37.5 degrees Celsius. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, sandalwood can play the role of centering, calming the nerves, refreshing, eliminating evil spirits and enlightening, so people often wear it as a mascot or give it to relatives and friends.

sandals

Sandalwood is the core material of sandalwood, excluding sapwood (white fragrance). Sandalwood is a semi-parasitic small tree, with a height of 8 to15m, a DBH of 20 to 30cm and a small one of 3 to 5cm. Its source is the Indian Goda varia Valley, south to Mysore and Indonesia, east and west Nusa Tengga provinces and East Timor. Sandalwood is generally yellowish brown or dark brown. After a long time, the color is slightly darker and the luster is good. The patina is not as obvious as rosewood or Huang Huali. The aroma is mellow and lasting, but it is not obvious after a long time. However, it is still very rich when scraping with a blade. Compared with the pungent aroma of Cinnamomum camphora and Phoebe bournei, it is slightly lighter. Sandalwood can be divided into Laoshan incense, Xinshanxiang incense, Dimen incense and Sydney incense.

Acid tree

There are many kinds of rosewood, belonging to Dalbergia of Papilionaceae in Leguminosae. Among Dalbergia plants, except Dalbergia odorifera in Hainan Island, which is called "fragrant branches" (commonly known as Huang Huali), all the others belong to acid branches. There are three kinds of rosewood: black rosewood, red rosewood and white rosewood. They * * * have the same feature that they give off a taste of edible vinegar during processing, so they are named sour branches.

Of the three kinds of rosewood, ebony is the best. Its color ranges from purplish red to purplish brown or purplish black, the wood is hard and the polishing effect is good. Some are very close to rosewood and are often mistaken for rosewood, but most of them are rough in texture.

The texture of red sour branches is more obvious than that of black sour branches, and the texture is flat and the color is mostly purple.

The color of white rosewood is much lighter than that of red rosewood, and the color is close to that of Cao Huali. Sometimes it is easily confused with Cao Huali.

red sandalwood

Rosewood belongs to Pterocarya. Its wood is hard, mostly red or purple in color, with clear texture and soft color. When the wood is slightly bright, it is red or purple near the center and deeper. In fact, this is the true color of rosewood.

boxwood

Boxwood, a small tree with fine texture, is extremely bright in color, and some are egg yellow. Because it is difficult to grow, there is no aniseed. It is often used to make wooden combs and carvings, and is also often used as a mosaic material for furniture.

Boxwood is a common evergreen plant in tropical and temperate zones, which is widely distributed in the southeast coast, southwest China and Taiwan Province Province.

There are 4 genera 100 species of Buxus. It is an evergreen shrub or small tree with yellowish wood, tough texture, delicate texture, moderate hardness, no brown eyes, long growth period and no aniseed.

Boxwood grows very slowly. It blooms in winter and bears seeds in spring. It usually takes 40 to 50 years to grow to 3-5 meters high and the diameter is less than 15 cm. Therefore, there are sayings that it is difficult to plant boxwood in a thousand years and it is difficult to make a beat in a thousand years (a kind of beat in musical instruments). In ancient times, it was said that boxwood was not only short in leap years, but also shortened. Song Sushi: "As the saying goes, Huang Yang grows one inch at the age of one, and retreats three inches in case of leap", so it is called "the Millennium is short".

nanmu

There are three famous varieties of Phoebe bournei: one is Phoebe bournei, whose wood is purplish, fragrant and beautiful in texture; Second, Jin Sinan with gold thread in the wood grain is the best nanmu. What is even more rare is that some nanmu materials form natural landscape figures; Third, nanmu wood is soft and often used to make furniture.

Nanmu belongs to Lauraceae, and there are many kinds. Yan 'an and Zinan are the main buildings and furniture commonly used. The former is an evergreen tree, which is produced in Ya 'an and guanxian, Sichuan. The latter, alias Jin Sinan, is produced in Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and southern Jiangsu. Nanmu has elegant and symmetrical color, small expansion deformation, easy processing and corrosion resistance. This is the best cork.

pipal

The white wood part of basswood is usually quite large, milky white, and gradually blends into the light to brownish red heartwood, sometimes with deep stripes. This wood grain is fine and even, and its texture is fuzzy and straight.

Basswood has good machinability and is easy to be processed by hand tools, so it is an excellent carving material. Nails, screws and glue have good fixing performance. After grinding, dyeing and polishing, good smooth surface can be obtained. Faster drying, less deformation and low aging degree. When drying, the shrinkage rate is quite large, but the dimensional stability is good.

Basswood is light in weight, soft in texture and low in strength, and belongs to a kind of wood with poor steam bending resistance. Corrosion-resistant, white wood is easily eaten by common furniture beetles. Permeable antiseptic treatment agent.

ebony

In China, ebony is carbonized wood, which is called ebony by Shu people and "Oriental Shenmu" by westerners. Blackwood has a long history. According to the available data, in ancient times, rare ancient trees in virgin forests suffered sudden and significant geographical and meteorological changes (such as earthquakes, flash floods, lightning strikes, typhoons, etc.). ), some are buried under the mud and sand of ancient river beds and rivers and lakes, and some are buried in the dark strata that have been deprived of oxygen for thousands or even thousands of years and washed by rapids. After thousands of years of natural abrasion, this dark wood has both the elegance of wood and the charm of stone. Its texture is solid and heavy, its color is black and luxurious, its cut surface is smooth and delicate, and its wood is oily, moisture-proof and fragrant, which will not rot for thousands of years and is not afraid of insects. Individual tree species recorded in ancient books also have medicinal value. It combines the characteristics of "thinness, permeability, leakage and wrinkle" and is worthy of the reputation of "Oriental Shenmu" and "plant mummy".

Blackwood has been regarded as a precious wood and a rare thing since ancient times, and it is a symbol of dignity and status. There is a folk saying in our country that "a box of jewelry is not as good as ebony" and "20 thousand gold is sent to the underworld for ebony to worship the spirit of heaven" In ancient times, dignitaries and literati regarded furniture made of black wood and works of art carved from black wood as family heirlooms, treasures of towns and houses and things to ward off evil spirits. Throughout the ages, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, black wood became the first choice for emperors to build palaces and make coffins. In the Qing Dynasty, the emperors even listed it as a special material for the royal family, and the people could not use it privately, which made this kind of black wood even rarer. Yuan Shikai, a traitor in the Republic of China, went against the historical trend, and the "emperor dream" soon died. However, in order to show that he was an emperor, his family tried their best to find a gloomy wood and put together a coffin for him. Although this is a historical joke, it also shows that the preciousness of heavy wood is hard to find.

Strictly speaking, ebony has gone beyond the category of wood, but should be classified as "treasure". This is because in the "Treasure Garden" of the Palace Museum, there are exquisite works of art carved from gloomy wood, which shows that its preciousness is far beyond the reach of ordinary wood. Dark wood furniture and works of art can be said to be unparalleled in terms of texture, cultural value and appreciation prospect, even surpassing precious rosewood.

Because ebony is a non-renewable resource, the development amount is less and less, and some natural ebony artworks are of great collection value.

Striped ebony

Striped ebony, also known as striped ebony, is striped ebony as its name implies. The national standard of mahogany separates striped ebony from ebony and becomes a category independently. Both striped ebony and ebony belong to Persimmon of Peach Family, and the difference between them lies in the wood color: the heartwood of ebony is black, while the heartwood of striped ebony is black or chestnut brown with light stripes. Persimmon, the difference between them lies in the wood color: ebony heartwood is black, while striped ebony heartwood is black or chestnut brown with faint stripes. In ancient times, striped ebony was called wood, ebony and ebony. Jin Cui Bao's Notes on Ancient and Modern Times: "Wood is black and literate, also known as ebony." The Jin Dynasty combined with Southern Vegetation: "The wenmu tree is seven or eight feet high and black as a buffalo horn, and used as a whip in the south." According to ancient books, "Wu Wen" will be lucky in the future, and Wu Wen will be rotten. In Japan, ebony and striped ebony are called ebony. According to the book Nanyang Wood written by Suto Meiji, the heartwood of striped ebony is black, and the stripes are gray or reddish brown.