Comparison of the characteristics of furniture in the Ming and Qing dynasties

1. Classical furniture is a bright pearl in China's long and splendid art and culture. The Ming Dynasty was a golden age in the history of furniture in China. During this period, the modeling, decoration, craftsmanship, materials, etc., of the furniture, have reached the perfect state, with the characteristics of the times of elegance and simplicity, and later generations praised it as "Ming-style furniture".

2. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the furniture followed the style of Ming-style furniture, but with the historical development, the integration of Manchu and Han cultures, and the influence of Chinese and Western cultural exchanges, the Qing Dynasty gradually formed a Qing-style furniture style that focused on form, pursued KitKat, and advocated gorgeous style, which reached its peak in the Qianlong period.

First, the artistic style and decorative characteristics of Ming and Qing dynasty furniture.

1 Ming-style furniture.

Ming-style furniture refers to furniture made in the early Ming to Qing dynasties, with fine craftsmanship, elegant and simple, and a specific style of furniture. Ming-style furniture with the rationalization of structure and the art of modeling, fully display the concise, bright and simple artistic style. And good at melting the elegant and vulgar in one furnace, elegant and useful, vulgar does not hurt the elegant, to achieve the perfect unity of aesthetics, mechanics and function.

Ming-style furniture decoration techniques are good at refining and making trade-offs, mainly through wood grain, carving, inlay and ancillary components, etc., which have reached an unprecedented level. In the selection of materials, great attention is paid to the texture of the wood, where the texture is clear and good-looking "beautiful materials", always placed in the significant part of the furniture, especially with timeless and durable. Carving techniques mainly include relief, openwork, relief and openwork and round carving, among which relief is the most commonly used.

The carving themes are very extensive, roughly including curly grass, lotus pattern, cloud pattern, Ganoderma lucidum, dragon pattern, claw pattern, flowers and birds, animals, landscapes, figures, phoenix patterns, religious patterns, etc. The knife lines are smooth, vivid and vivid, and full of vitality. Most of the carved parts are in the back plate of the furniture, the tooth plate, the tooth, the circumference, etc., often do small area carving, with less is more, and the decorative effect of craftsmanship is particularly eye-catching.

2 Qing style furniture.

At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the furniture followed the style of Ming-style furniture, but with the historical development, the integration of Manchu and Han cultures, and the influence of Chinese and Western cultural exchanges, the Qing Dynasty gradually formed a Qing-style furniture style that paid attention to form, pursued KitKat, and advocated gorgeous style, which reached its peak in the Qianlong period. The furniture of the Qianlong period, especially the court furniture, has excellent materials, delicate workmanship, especially good at decoration, and the combination of various materials and crafts is a typical representative of Qing style furniture.

After continuous change, evolution and development, China's furniture entered a complete and mature period in the Ming Dynasty, forming a unique style, which was praised as "Ming-style furniture" by the world. Because the materials used in the Ming Dynasty's joinery furniture are strong and durable hardwoods, there are a lot of fine products left to this day, so that we can intuitively and comprehensively understand the development process of Ming-style furniture. The varieties and styles of Ming-style furniture are rich and colorful, and can be divided into chairs and stools, tables, beds, cabinets and other categories according to their functions.

The style characteristics of furniture can be summarized by Mr. Wang Shixiang to evaluate the "twelve products" of Ming-style furniture. The twelve products are "concise, clumsy, round, Qinhua, Wenqi, Yanxiu, vigorous, soft, ethereal, exquisite, elegant and fresh".