What are the characteristics of Ming Dynasty furniture?

The society of the Ming Dynasty was stable, agriculture and handicrafts were developed, and craftsmen gained more freedom, especially in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, when commodities were abundant, circulation channels were extensive, and foreign trade was opened, so that the economy of large cities and towns rose rapidly, especially in the south of the Yangtze River and the South China Sea. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, these two places became important production areas of furniture, which was actually directly related to the developed commodity economy in these regions.

Ming Dynasty furniture (4 photos).

There is such an article in Ming Fanlian's "According to the Eyes of the Clouds": "Thin wood guys, such as desks and Zen chairs, have not been seen by Yu Youth, and the folk stop using ginkgo gold lacquer square tables." Since Mo Tinghan, Gu and Song, the sons of the two families, with several pieces of fine wood, also purchased from Wumen.

Long and Wan, although the slaves of the fast armor family, all use fine tools, and the small carpenter of the emblem is in the county governance, that is, the dowry miscellaneous utensils, all belong to the like. Extravagant, and to the wood is not expensive enough, where the bed cabinet a few tables, are made of pear, gall, ebony, acacia and boxwood, and its expensive and skillful, it costs thousands of dollars, and it is also vulgar. It is especially strange that if the soap is fast and occasionally stops, that is, the whole nap, the wooden board is decorated with a plank, the urn is stored with fish and miscellaneous flowers, and the fine table is dusted inside, known as the study, but I don't know what book the soap is reading.

From this, we can get a glimpse of the furniture and folk customs in the Su and Song areas in the late Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty is another prosperous period in the history of furniture in China since the Han and Tang Dynasties. With the economic prosperity at that time, the city's gardens and residential buildings also flourished, and the newly built mansions of the nobles and wealthy merchants needed to be equipped with a large amount of furniture, which formed a large demand for furniture. A group of cultural celebrities in the Ming Dynasty were keen on the study of furniture technology and the exploration of furniture aesthetics, and their participation played a certain role in promoting the maturity of furniture styles in the Ming Dynasty.

Zheng He went to the West and transported back a large number of high-grade wood such as pear and red sandalwood from the Nanyang countries, which were rich in high-grade wood, which also created favorable conditions for the development of furniture in the Ming Dynasty. The shape of the furniture in the Ming Dynasty is very simple and bright, and the production and use functions of the process have reached an unprecedented peak. During this period, the furniture varieties and styles were extremely rich, and the concept of complete sets of furniture had been formed.

The arrangement method is usually symmetrical, such as a table with two chairs or a group of four stools, etc., and a large number of precious woods with hard texture and high strength are used in the production. The mortise and tenon structure of furniture production is extremely precise, the small outline of the component section is very concise, the workmanship of the decorative line feet is meticulous, and the craftsmanship has reached a very high level, forming a unique style of simple and elegant, beautiful and dignified, rich charm, and rigidity and softness in the Ming Dynasty.

To sum up, here are the four major features::

Fine: that is, the selection of materials is excellent, and the production is exquisite. The materials used in Ming-style furniture are mostly red sandalwood, huanghuali and iron pear wood, which are precious woods with hard texture, fine grain and deep color.

In terms of technology, all adopt mortise and tenon structure, reasonable connection, so that the furniture is solid and firm, and it remains unchanged for a long time. Due to the slow growth of red sandalwood, huanghuali and iron pear wood, these materials were increasingly scarce after a large number of felling in the Ming Dynasty, and by the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, these woods were very difficult to find. Therefore, after the Qing Dynasty, the furniture has undergone fundamental changes in materials.

To identify and distinguish whether it is Ming Dynasty furniture, the examination of materials is crucial.

Qiao: that is, the production is exquisite, the design is ingenious. The modeling structure of Ming-style furniture attaches great importance to matching with the hall building, and the overall configuration of the furniture itself is also in order.

It is very harmonious, the user feels comfortable to sit on it, and feels comfortable to lie on it, and the display in the hall has the ingenious role of decorating the environment and filling the space.

Jane: that is, the shape is concise and the lines are smooth. Although the shape of Ming-style furniture is varied and often changes, there is a basic point, that is, conciseness.

Some people compare it to the painting of the Bada Shanren, which is concise, clear, and generalized. A few lines and combined shapes give people a quiet and beautiful, simple and stable, sparse and ethereal artistic effect.

Ya: That is, the style is fresh, elegant and dignified. Ya is a kind of culture, that is, "bookish gas".

Elegance is a state of beauty. The scribes of the Ming Dynasty advocated "elegance". Dignitaries and wealthy merchants also vassal "Ya".

Because many literati and painters living in Suzhou in the Ming Dynasty were directly involved in the design and production of gardening art and furniture, and the craftsmen also catered to the elegant tastes of the literati, the "elegant" character of Ming-style furniture was formed. The embodiment of elegance in furniture is the simplicity of the shape, the simplicity of the decoration, the freshness and naturalness of the color, and no pretentiousness.

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