Collecting guide: 10 things to know about classical Chinese furniture(1/2)

1. What is classical Chinese furniture?

Classical Chinese furniture refers to a wide variety of pieces made during the Ming and Qing dynasties, from the late 14th to the early 20th century. These forms include tables, cabinets, chairs, stools, beds, and smaller objects such as brush pots, cosmetic boxes and mirror stands — all furnishings found in a domestic space.

2. How is classical Chinese furniture made?

Chinese furniture is made without any glue or nails. Carved pieces of wood are held together by complex mortice and tenon joinery. This sophisticated joining system creates seamless transitions between horizontal planes and vertical supports. Supports for arms smoothly continue through the seat frame to become the legs of a chair, and delicate overlapping joints form the gracefully arched crest rails of horseshoe-back armchairs.

Understanding how these joints hold a piece together will add to your overall appreciation of Chinese furniture. With great technical skill, master carpenters and cabinetmakers designed furniture with striking silhouettes and refined lines. The marriage of engineering and aesthetics created an artform still admired in the present day.

3.What types of wood are used in Chinese furniture?

Chinese furniture is made from a variety of woods, including tropical hardwoods, bamboo, and also decorated lacquer examples. 

Richly textured surfaces were often incorporated into furniture to provide a decorative element. Cabinet doors or table tops are the perfect canvas to showcase dynamic swirling grain or textured burl patterns. 

Of the various woods used in Chinese furniture, the most desired hardwoods are huanghuali and zitan.

Huanghuali, known by its scientific name as Dalbergia odorifera, is a Chinese rosewood. Huanghuali is valued for its rich amber tones and abstract figural patterns, including the famed darker cluster markings known as ‘ghost faces’. It is a very durable material, impermeable to water and insects. The strength of the wood made this the ideal material to withstand the physical demands of the tenon-mortice construction of Chinese furniture.

Zitan belongs to the genus Pterocarpus and is a purplish-black, fine-grained hardwood. The density of the wood makes it especially suitable for fine and intricate carving. Combined with its jade-like, lustrous surface, this made it the preferred material for Imperial Qing Dynasty furniture, which favoured elaborately carved and highly ornamented works. 

Jichimu, literally translated as ‘chicken-wing wood,’ has a distinct grain that resembles bird feathers. Another admired wood is tieliimu, which is related to jichimu, and has a shorter, less dramatic feathered grain.

4. Why is Chinese furniture so valuable?

The market for Chinese furniture is material driven. It is a market that balances quantity and quality of material with beauty, rarity, and form. The more robust the members, and the larger the piece, or more material used, the more desirable the example and thus the higher price realized.

The prices of two similar-looking pieces from the same time period can differ by hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the material used.
The prices of two similar-looking pieces from the same time period can differ by hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the material used. 

In this material driven market, examples in huanghuali and zitan are the most sought after and yield the most exceptional prices. 

Learning how to properly identify the materials used in Chinese furniture takes time and patience. Examine as many pieces as possible – test their weight, look closely at colour and grain patterns.

5.What are the most popular chairs within Chinese furniture?

The ‘official’s hat’ armchair is among the most powerful and monumental forms of classical Chinese furniture. The chair’s name references the curved crestrail, which resembles the winged official’s hat worn during the Ming period. The tall and supportive curved splat and elongated S-shaped arms encourage the sitter to sit in an upright regal posture, and the protruding crestrail with rounded ends behind the sitter’s head adds an imposing effect.