(1) Understand the texture of mahogany furniture. Mahogany furniture is only one kind of hardwood furniture, and rosewood, rosewood (Hainan sandalwood), chicken wing wood and rosewood all belong to hardwood furniture, but now many people are used to mixing all hardwood furniture with mahogany furniture. If you know that the material of furniture is one of the above-mentioned wood, then this kind of furniture is mahogany furniture. If the furniture is made of rosewood and mahogany, it is "authentic" fine mahogany furniture, especially rosewood. Rosewood is generally red, and wood is harder and heavier than mahogany. The wood grain is finer, more oily and more beautiful, but this opportunity is rare. At present, rosewood furniture in China is mainly rosewood and rosewood. The wood is medium, the color is red, it is lighter and brittle than mahogany, and the texture is thicker than mahogany. Because the diameter of rosewood is less than 33 cm, when a large area of wood (such as chair seats) is needed, rosewood will be used instead. So sometimes it is found that a piece of furniture is made of two kinds of wood, but this is a normal process, so don't worry when choosing.
(2) Distinguish true and false mahogany furniture from wood grain and weight. Real mahogany furniture itself has a variety of natural reds, such as purple, yellow, crimson, crimson and so on. The wood grain is simple and beautiful, elegant and fresh. After making furniture, although it is colored, the wood grain is still clearly discernible; However, imitations are generally thicker in color, often white, and have no texture. Real mahogany furniture is solid and compact, heavier than general miscellaneous wood; The weight of fake mahogany furniture with the same shape and size is obviously different.
(3) Pay attention to the style of mahogany furniture. Old-fashioned mahogany furniture is beautiful in shape, and the outline of the furniture has a strong oriental style. But this is only a style of mahogany furniture, and antique is not the only sign of mahogany furniture. Because in modern mahogany furniture, there are many western-style shapes, such as mahogany dining tables, which are very large in shape, and some desktops adopt western-style pull-up structures, which can be extended and retracted at will. For example, the specifications and shapes of sofas have been westernized, and the lines are smooth, which is easy for ordinary families to accept. Another example is the exquisite combination of writing desk, chair, sculpture and style, which is extraordinary in the study; Some tables and chairs are inlaid with Yunnan marble, marble, Luodian shell and other decorative accessories, which can better reflect the traditional style of mahogany furniture. Some people buy mahogany furniture, perhaps not only considering Chinese and western styles, but also pursuing the regional style of mahogany furniture. For example, Beijing School pays attention to craftsmanship and Cantonese style pays attention to sturdiness, while Su School and Shanghai School are regarded as authentic representatives of pure Chinese furniture, and they need to be carefully identified when purchasing.
(4) Quality requirements. When choosing furniture, we should pay attention to the rationality of furniture structure, the scientific nature of tenon and mortise, the advanced technology and the applicability of function. For example, mahogany furniture generally adopts tenon-mortise structure, so pay attention to it when purchasing.
Six misunderstandings in purchasing mahogany furniture
Myth 1: Pay too much attention to the price and covet the cheap.
To buy mahogany furniture, we must first establish a sense of quality products. All works handed down from generation to generation are fine works, and bad things will definitely be abandoned. If we try to be cheap, it will be difficult to buy high-quality goods. Good-quality goods, even if bought at a high price, will have a lot of room for appreciation, while shoddy furniture, even if the price is lower, cannot appreciate.
Myth 2 only cares about the authenticity of wood and ignores the quality of material selection.
Material guarantee is the minimum guarantee for purchasing mahogany furniture. A piece of high-quality mahogany furniture has a high demand for material selection, so it must be large, without white skin and strewn at random. Otherwise, the furniture is easy to crack and deform, and it is difficult to use it normally, let alone inherit it.
Myth 3: Only the material is important, but the workmanship is not important.
Many customers only care about the material when buying mahogany furniture, thinking that as long as the material is good, it will have collection value. I don't know if mahogany furniture is divided into three parts and seven parts. Good material is just the foundation. Without good workmanship, it is equivalent to a pile of wood, which has no collection value. Good wood does not mean good furniture. Just like using the same Four Treasures of the Study, the difference between the works of ordinary people and those of painters and painters can be imagined. Using the same wood to make furniture is a world of difference.
Myth 4 is too entangled in the rise and fall of prices.
As a rare tree species, the scarcity of resources leads to its rising price. As a treasure of China traditional culture, mahogany furniture has many advantages such as beauty, practicality and collection. Appreciation is an inevitable process and periodic price fluctuations are normal. If it is well investigated or sold as soon as possible, the overall increase will be bigger and bigger, especially the very popular Dalbergia odorifera, whose resources are almost exhausted, and it will be hard to find a tree in a few years.
Myth 5: Repurchase is guaranteed.
There are many traps in this, which are just a means for merchants to divert customers' attention and let customers enter the misunderstanding that "in any case, they can return goods in the future and cannot lose money". Don't you know there's a lot of learning in it? First, there are many restrictions when buying back, and the initiative is entirely in the hands of the merchants. Second, the price of mahogany has risen too much, and it costs several times more to buy it after repurchase. Therefore, when buying it, it is necessary to control the quality in one step.
Myth 6: It's best to follow the music.
Furniture in Ming and Qing Dynasties is the peak in the history of furniture development in China, leaving us with many classic works with beautiful shapes and excellent craftsmanship. Imitation is a good thing, but we can't think that innovative things are bad. After all, furniture is a kind of daily necessities, and there is no need to ignore the basic attributes of furniture in order to stick to pure antique. Any art and anything must have development and innovation in order to achieve the glory of the times. If our mahogany furniture remains antique, compared with hundreds of years ago, the style and size are the same, which shows that our era and industry are too lacking in creativity.
How do working-class people choose mahogany handicrafts?
Affected by the newly revised Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the mahogany furniture market is booming, with the highest increase of 30% during the year. However, the long-term investment situation of mahogany handicrafts is promising, but the short-term trend is risky and still needs to be cautious. Classical furniture and handicrafts made of precious mahogany have recently become a minority investment favored by many people because of their artistic collection value.
As the working class itself, the amount of funds that can be operated is not much. How to invest in the collection?
Relevant experts suggest that this part of consumers can buy small handicrafts, the price ranges from thousands to tens of thousands, so how to buy small handicrafts? The working class can buy Four Treasures of the Study, ashtrays, ornaments, handles, mahogany bases, beads and other handicrafts carved from rosewood and rosewood. So what are the identification methods?
1, the first feeling when buying handicrafts is modeling, which depends on whether its modeling is classic, whether the design is harmonious and beautiful, and whether it can produce a certain aesthetic feeling of plastic arts. In terms of carving, hand carving and machine carving are very different;
2. The hand carving is vivid and harmonious, while the machine carving is dull and monotonous, lifeless;
3. In terms of color, whether the color collocation is uniform, whether the grain is uniform, and whether enough materials are used according to the design requirements;
A good work doesn't care about the amount of labor, but only needs enough wood for each handicraft. Only in this way can we make a fine product with great potential for maintaining and increasing value.
Think twice about buying classical furniture and teach you to make a decision.
Chinese classical furniture has a high value-added value, so how to buy classical furniture? Look before you leap.
An idea: Why buy it?
If you want to buy a piece of classical furniture, first of all, you should find out what your motivation is and why. At present, the concept of classical furniture includes two categories: one is old-fashioned furniture belonging to the category of collection; First, real use of antique furniture. This determines the buyer's two purposes: preservation of value and appreciation of collection.
When buying classical furniture, you should ask yourself at least two questions: First, do you have enough money? Second, do you have any sophisticated experience? Collection needs long-term occupation of funds, because the source of ancient furniture is to sell less and only rise, and the ancient furniture in Ming and Qing dynasties is not only expensive, but also the imitation of ancient furniture in Ming and Qing dynasties is rising all the way, because raw materials are scarce, it is not easy to buy old furniture, and the expensive value of classical furniture will also be a big expense; The profoundness of the antique industry has brought difficulties to its industry norms, and the benefits and risks coexist, and experts sometimes inevitably go astray.
If you only appreciate the unique charm of classical furniture from an aesthetic point of view, your choice will be much simpler, because you don't have to worry too much about inferring its exact age and history, as long as you value its appearance, reliable quality and durability.
Two ideas: age and style.
The age of classical furniture can basically be determined from the material. Ming-style furniture mainly uses Huang Huali wood, and other wood is rarely used. And Huang Huali's wooden furniture, mostly tables and chairs, cabinets, not inlaid and carved, only a little carving. Due to the lethargy of Huang Huali wood in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, it was made of rosewood. Rosewood furniture has few big pieces, and the width of wood is generally only eight inches. Good wood, few carvings, no inlays. According to experts, there are more than a dozen kinds of rosewood. According to different materials, their prices vary greatly. At present, 1 m3 is several thousand yuan' several hundred thousand yuan', and the most expensive one is Venus rosewood, which has become a superior material because of its high pinhole density, heavy ratio and hard material. In ancient times, there was a saying that sandalwood was one or two and gold was one or two.
After the mid-Qing Dynasty, wingwood, rosewood, rosewood and rosewood were gradually used, and new furniture was mostly made of rosewood and rosewood. Rosewood furniture, large and many, engraved with patterns, embedded with jade, teeth, stone, wood, snails, cloisonne and so on. Rosewood furniture is also carved and inlaid, and there are many modern products. The shapes and styles of furniture in Ming and Qing dynasties are varied and often change. On the surface, it seems that all skilled craftsmen do whatever they want, but they are not. Any style has quite strict rules and regulations, and it is by no means arbitrary.
By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, in order to cater to the tastes of rulers, it was inevitable to do something unconventional and design furniture that violated the rules. Artisans in the Ming and Qing Dynasties perfected the shapes and structures of their furniture, and used decorative techniques to make their furniture more perfect. Ming designed round-backed chairs, four-year-old official hat chairs, corner cabinets and large painting cases. Qing dynasty continued the style of Ming furniture and designed its own unique furniture. Among them, mahogany Fushou Ruyi plush chair, dazzling piano case, mahogany stool, nail embroidered pier and other furniture. As long as you see its modeling characteristics, you can see the age.
In addition, we can also judge the decorative techniques, such as material selection, molding and inlaying. China has cherished colored wood since ancient times. In the Ming Dynasty, hardwood was widely used to make furniture, making full use of its beautiful patterns. All artifacts, such as natural writing, are more colorful and durable than manual carving. Among many furniture treasures, we can see that the best materials are used in the most prominent parts of furniture. For example, beautiful materials are used in areas such as face core board, door core board, drawer surface and backrest board to achieve decorative effect. Sculpture plays a primary role in decoration technology, because most patterns are made of sculpture. Its techniques can be divided into relief, through carving, combination of relief and through carving, and round carving.
In the early Ming and Qing dynasties, furniture was produced all over the country, with Suzhou, Beijing, Guangzhou, Huizhou and Yangzhou as the most representative areas, among which Suzhou was particularly important. At that time, a considerable part of hardwood furniture in Beijing was shipped from the south. Later, the emperor preferred to innovate "Beijing made" hardwood furniture. Since then, there have been two schools. In the early Qing Dynasty, the furniture was still Ming style, but some components or local crafts showed the interest of Qing Dynasty, and the modeling and decoration changed obviously compared with Ming style, so it could not be called Ming style.
Classical furniture uses raw lacquer and hot wax. It is advisable to use beeswax containing 95% wax and then polish it to make the furniture surface smooth and smooth. Exquisite carving technology, full of creativity, abstract stone style, elegant lines, dry and sufficient, not afraid of cracking. In modern times, imitation Ming and Qing furniture is mostly replaced by paint, with saw marks on the interface and mass production. New stones and lines are complicated and easy to crack and deform. They are stuck together with nails and glue. The ancient furniture in Ming and Qing dynasties was heavy, which exceeded the sense of weight that individuals could bear, while the new furniture was relatively light, so you can understand it by moving it.
Think twice: buy a place
The gradual popularity of classical furniture has made a number of reputable and well-funded manufacturers stand out. Because of their high popularity and good reputation, these enterprises have good quality whether they buy classical furniture or antique furniture. In addition to more reliable manufacturers, major antique furniture markets are also places to choose furniture. In addition, you can also see some shops dealing in antique furniture when you go to Liulichang.
Matters needing attention of consumers in purchasing precious hardwood furniture
At present, precious hardwood products are more and more favored by consumers, but they are often deceived because of the lack of corresponding understanding. As the only legal inspection institution in Yunnan province that can identify wood materials and furniture materials, experts from Yunnan Quality Inspection Institute advise consumers to purchase carefully, and it is best to go to the quality inspection department for inspection.
Chen Lijun, an engineer engaged in wood appraisal in Yunnan Quality Inspection Institute, said that in daily inspection, some merchants often pass inferior products off as genuine products to make profits, and pass inferior wood off as precious hardwood. For example, at the 18th Kunming Fair recently held in Kunming, Laos and Vietnam exhibited precious hardwood products, including rosewood, rosewood, rosewood, agarwood and rosewood. Myanmar, Pakistan, Thailand and other countries also have a small number of wood products on display. In the meantime, some merchants make bracelets with coconut wood as agarwood, or paint red sandalwood as red sandalwood, or soak soft miscellaneous wood in spices as sandalwood, or randomly name other wood with good appearance color as "red sandalwood", "golden sandalwood" and "white sandalwood" to confuse consumers. Of course, sometimes businesses themselves don't understand. Some merchants have little expertise in wood, and judge by experience and appearance. But some wood products can't be distinguished by color and texture. It is necessary to use a microscope with a magnification of 40 -400 times to slice wood and observe its internal microstructure characteristics to determine its specific wood species. For the identification of "redwood", in addition to determining the tree species, the density and average chord length and diameter of the tube holes should also reach the corresponding specified values, otherwise even if the tree species are correct, it cannot be judged as redwood.
In view of the confusion of wood market names, China has formulated corresponding standards. Common redwoods are divided into rosewood, rosewood, rosewood, rosewood, rosewood, rosewood, wingwood, ebony and striped ebony. According to the proportion of product materials, it can be divided into three categories: all-wood furniture (single wood material), all-wood furniture, all-wood furniture, all-wood furniture, all-wood furniture and all-wood furniture.
Experts suggest that consumers should pay attention to whether the products have fixed metal marks, rather than paper trademarks that fall off at a glance; The sales label of furniture must indicate the name of wood type, Latin name of tree, auxiliary materials, wood origin, quality grade, paint and specifications, etc. If you are really not sure, please ask a professional appraisal agency for appraisal.
Experts remind: buy mahogany furniture to be carefully identified.
Due to inflation and scarce resources, the prices of rosewood furniture such as rosewood, rosewood and Huang Huali have risen this year, so they are sought after by local collectors in the South China Sea. Some insiders suggest that mahogany furniture collection is a good investment means, but at present, the so-called mahogany furniture is mixed, and unfamiliar citizens should pay special attention to identification when purchasing.
In recent years, China's traditional furniture industry has flourished in the South China Sea, and the business performance of antique furniture enterprises has also steadily increased. Mr. Qu, an antique furniture collector, said that he is very optimistic about this industry.
It is understood that with the further scarcity of precious mahogany resources such as rosewood, rosewood and Huang Huali in recent years, coupled with inflation and other reasons, the price of high-end mahogany antique furniture has been rising.
He Jincheng is the owner of a furniture company in Guicheng, Nanhai. Engaged in the manufacture of precious wooden furniture for more than 30 years, and has rich experience in appreciating mahogany furniture. He said that at present, there is a "collection craze" in the whole society, and antique rosewood furniture such as rosewood, rosewood and Huang Huali are particularly concerned, and many buyers come for this collection.