Common Classification and Names of Chinese Classical Furniture

Several cases: People often refer to several cases together, because it is difficult to draw a completely different boundary between them in form and use. Several cases are the furniture that ancient people rely on when sitting, and cases are the furniture that people use when eating, reading and writing. Their forms already exist, but the names of several cases are later. As for the physical objects of the Jihe case, according to archaeological excavations, almost every piece of pottery in the tombs from the Warring States to the Han and Wei Dynasties has a variety of textures.

In terms of types, the types of cases are food cases, book cases, drama cases, felt cases and embarrassing cases.

There are banquets, tables, kang, incense, butterflies, flowers, tea tables and desks.

Several situations have many styles, each with its own uses. Like other furniture, the layout of halls and pavilions has its own specific specifications.

Chairs and stools: The ancient chairs in China appeared in the Han Dynasty. Its predecessor was Hu Chuang introduced from the north of Han Dynasty, and it developed into a common thing in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. After the Tang dynasty, the chair was separated from the name of Hu bed and directly called chair.

Chairs were more common in the Song Dynasty. In court, the chairs used are extremely gorgeous. The chairs depicted in the portraits of the Empress in the Song Dynasty are all painted with patterns, and their structures tend to be reasonable.

In the Song Dynasty, a round-backed chair was also very popular.

The top chair, also known as the "plush chair", is the only chair named after the official title in the furniture category; The so-called top chair refers to a foldable chair with the front and rear legs crossed and the intersection point as the axis. The northern nationalities first used it, and its characteristics are very suitable for nomadic life.

The top status of furniture in the Yuan Dynasty was very high, and only rich and powerful families had it. Most of them are located in the hall for the host and guest to enjoy, and women and servants can only sit on round stools and horse brakes.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were various forms of chairs, including treasure chairs, top chairs, round back chairs, official hat chairs, armchairs and rose chairs.

Bench: At first, it wasn't the stool we sat on today, but the pedal, which is equivalent to pedaling. It was after the Han dynasty that it became a seat.

There are two kinds of stools: Fiona Fang, the board heart on the stool surface, and many patterns, such as shadow wood heart, hardwood heart, wooden frame painting heart, rattan heart and marble heart. After the Song Dynasty, materials and techniques were very particular.

Bed and sofa: The history of beds in China is very early. It is said that Shennong invented the bed, Shao Hao invented the bed and Lv Wang made the bed. The physical object of the bed should be represented by the painted bed of the Warring States period unearthed in Changtaiguan, Xinyang, Henan Province. Liu Xi's Explaining the Name of Bed in Han Dynasty said: "One bed carries its own load" and "one person sits and lies in the bed". At that time, the bed included two meanings, namely, seat and bedding. In the late Western Han Dynasty, the name "couch" appeared again, specifically referring to seating. "Ming Shi" said: "Long and narrow people are called couch", "couch, talk about their body, couch near the ground, the little one sits alone in the field, the master has no two, sit alone." A couch is a kind of bed, and there is no big difference except that it is shorter than ordinary bedding, so it has always been called a couch.

It was not until after the Six Dynasties that beds began to break the traditional habits and high-legged bedding appeared. At this time, the bed is spacious. Most beds in the Tang and Song Dynasties had no fences, so they were also called "four-sided beds". Generally speaking, to use this kind of bed without fence, you need to use several sheets or straight boards as auxiliary furniture.

Three-sided or four-sided fence beds began to appear in Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, and their workmanship and materials were better than those of the previous generation. In the Ming dynasty, this kind of bed became popular, with more scientific structure and high decoration level. For example:

1, crib: The usual practice is to install columns at the four corners of the bed and cover the top of the bed, which is also commonly known as "dust bearing". There are lintels and inverted teeth around the top cover. Fences are installed on both sides and behind the bed surface, and small wooden blocks are used as tenons to splice into various geometric patterns. Because the bed has a top frame, it is called a frame bed.

2. Pedal bed: It looks like a bed on a wooden platform. The platform grows two or three feet from the bed, and the four corners of the platform are inlaid with wooden fences. Others install windows on both sides to form a small porch in front of the bed, and put some tables, stools and small furniture on both sides of the porch to place sundries. Although a trampoline is used indoors, it looks like a small independent house.

3. Lohan bed: There are fences at the left, right and front, but there is no bedstead. Fences are mostly made of Xiao Mu tenons. The simplest one is composed of three whole plates. The two ends of the fence adopt stepped soft rounded corners, which is simple and generous.

Before Kangxi, the beds in the Qing Dynasty generally retained the style and characteristics of the Ming Dynasty, and changed greatly after Qianlong, forming a unique style of the Qing Dynasty. It is characterized by heavy materials, gorgeous decoration, luxury and pretentiousness.

Boxes and cabinets: The use of boxes and cabinets began in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

The ancient cabinets are not the cabinets we see today, but more like the boxes we see today, and the ancient boxes refer to the places where things are stored in cars.

In ancient times, there was also the name "box", which was not much different from the cabinet in form, but smaller than the cabinet.

The name "box" came into being in the Han Dynasty, and its utensils were the same as those before the Warring States Period. They are mostly used to store clothes and quilts, and are called towel boxes or suitcases. They are large in size and are furniture with many uses.

Kitchen: This name is a multi-purpose furniture with a front door, which can be used to store books, clothes, food and so on. From the Tang Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, the forms of boxes and cabinets changed little. Most of the boxes are made into top covers, and the edges and corners are inlaid with copper leaves or iron leaves.

Ming Dynasty is the golden age of traditional furniture in China, and cabinet furniture is also colorful. Such as: 1, stuffy cabinet: the shape is similar to a console table, with drawers under the surface, two drawers are called two cabinets, and three drawers are called three cabinets. Generally, it is still in the form of a console table, but the use function is one step ahead of the console table; 2. Cabinet: It is a kind of furniture with both cabinet and cabinet functions. It is very small, almost as high as a console table. The countertop of the cupboard can be used as a table. 3. Top vertical cabinet: it is a kind of combined furniture. A small cabinet is placed at the top of the vertical cabinet, and the length and width of the small cabinet are the same as those of the vertical cabinet below; 4. Ming cabinet: it is commonly used furniture in the study. Usually, the lower part is made into a cabinet, the upper part is made into an open cabinet, the lower part is used to put books, and the upper part is used to put antiques.

In short, cabinets, like other furniture, are made in different ways because of their different uses. People constantly sum up their experience in daily life according to their needs to make it beautiful and practical. screen

Screen Curtain and Han An Dynasty: Murals of Han Tombs in Liaoyang, Liaoning Province.

The combination of screen and sofa forms a new kind of furniture. The screen couch in Han Dynasty can be divided into single fan and double fan. There are curtains on the couch and pendants along the curtains, which are rich and elegant.

Screen: the use of screen began in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, called "ground". At first, it was used for wind and shade, and then it developed continuously, and the varieties tended to be diversified, including not only tall screens, but also smaller screens for beds and pillows, as well as special and purely decorative furnishings.

During the Han and Tang dynasties, almost all wealthy families used screens, and the forms were also increased compared with the previous generation. They can be folded and opened from the initial single screen to the multi-screen curved surface screen. Before the Han dynasty, screens were mostly painted on wooden boards, but since the invention of papermaking, they were mostly paper paste. The types of screens are floor screen, bed screen, comb screen, lamp screen and so on. However, according to the texture, there are more, such as jade screen, carved screen, glass screen, mica screen, silk screen, painting screen and so on. Hanging screens appeared after the Ming Dynasty, which exceeded the practicality of screens and became pure decorations.