Beds

Arhat beds and frame beds were the two most frequently seen types of beds in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Arhat Beds

It looks like a sizable chair. One can sit up or lie down on it. The arhat bed is distinguished by railings around the back and sides of the platform. This practice gradually gave rise to decorative railings attached to the seat frame of the platform.

Arbats are followers of the Buddha who have attained full enlightenment, peace and freedom. It’s said that secular men and Buddhists often had enlightening conversations sitting on this type of beds, hence the name “arbat beds.”

Frame Beds

Raised posts are attached to the surrounding railings of the bed, rendering it as a small secluded ‘room.’ This ‘room’ within a room provided nighttime enclosure when it was hung with draperies around the outside of the frame that suited the season. This type of beds denotes people’s belief that bedrooms should be relatively dim and enclosed, while living rooms large and bright.

Screen Panels

The screen panel is among the oldest furniture that has been popular for centuries in ancient China. Originally a practical furniture item used for separating space, the screen panel was later decorated with motifs denoting the social status of the owners. In the Qing dynasty, the screen panel inlayed or carved with dragons always went together with the emperors’ throne, displaying overwhelming imperial might.

Use of Tropical Hardwood

The source of timber largely decides the quality of the furniture. Ming and Qing classical Chinese furniture is no exception. The imported tropical hardwood, mostly from Southeast Asia, was the most choice wood for Ming and Qing furniture.

Zheng He, a renowned Ming official, started his first maritime expedition in 1405 under the patronage of the emperor. During the subsequent 28 years, he and his fleet had six more trade journeys, reaching 37 countries around the world. Zheng Hiss journey gained remarkable achievements in increasing trade between China and those countries, particularly in Southeast Asia. A large number of tropical hardwoods, timber with great hardness and density, were taken back to China. Craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty used these valuable hardwoods like sandalwood and rosewood to make furniture for the royal family. The numbered timber that Zheng He brought back, however, was far from enough. To meet the increasing domestic need, the Ming emperors regularly had officials take long and arduous trips to Southeast Asia to purchase the rare woods.

Timber can be roughly classified into four color-categories in descending order of hardness and value: black, yellow, red, and white. Black stands for red sandalwood; yellow for yellow rosewood; red for blackwood, and white for other ordinary timber.

Judging by hardness and density, hardwoods rank among the top. Sandalwood, rosewood, and blackwood are all considered the best hardwoods. The choicest hardwoods are mainly distributed in Southeast Asia as well as in South China. They’re rare and expensive, even reputed as “Golden Trees,” because it usually takes up to hundreds of years to mature.

Red Sandalwood, the Rarest Timber

The purplish-black red sandalwood is hard, heavy, and sinks easily in water. The Chinese have long considered it the most rare timber in the world because it it only grows several centimeters in a hundred years. A Chinese table made of red sandalwood in the 18th century was auctioned off for the astronomical price of over $35 million USD in 1994 at the New York-based Sotheby’s auction house. Even today, it remains a symbol of wealth for most Chinese to have a suite of red sandalwood furniture.

Red sandalwood furniture does not need to be lacquered. It looks silky only when waxed, allowing the grain to stand out and the natural beauty of the wood to be the main focus of the piece. Impervious to insects, acids, red sandalwood furniture as well as handicrafts can be kept in good condition for a thousand years. More than its decorative and practical functions, red sandalwood is also medically significant. Viewed as a precious traditional Chinese medicine, it can be made into chairs or sofas with medical benefits.

The open trade policy of the Ming dynasty largely increased the storage of red sandalwood in the imperial warehouse. It was still used in the early Qing dynasty when furniture for the royal family was made. However, red sandalwood became much more rare in the mid-Qing period partly because the rulers issued an edict banning foreign trade. Its scantiness even prompted the Qing emperors to guide the making of imperial furniture. For instance, they required the use of quality wood be controlled and the furniture size reduced. As a result, the mid-Qing period saw the use of indigenous blackwood increasing as the storage of red sandalwood was used up.