The main materials used in traditional Chinese furniture are: fragrant branches (i.e. huanghuali), rosewood, rosewood, rosewood, iron pear, ebony, chicken wing wood, nanmu, camphor wood, shadow wood, yellow Yang, beech, elm Wood, birch, etc. In recent years, a large number of high-quality timber imported from abroad come in many varieties and have confusing names. The majority of consumers also lack knowledge of various types of high-end wood. Some profit-seekers take advantage of people's appreciation of high-end wood and pass it off as good. Black wood, no matter how good or bad, is often passed off as rosewood; yellow wood is often called rosewood or huanghuali. . Make huge profits from it and defraud ill-gotten gains. In order to regulate the timber market and improve consumers' understanding of timber, it is recommended to read more books on botany. A few years ago, Mr. Yang Jiaju of the Wood Industry Research Institute of the State Forestry Administration edited a book on wood standards called "Chinese Redwood." The vague concept of "redwood" used in the book is questionable. However, the scientific classification of various types of wood and the specific analysis of various types of wood in the book are of important reference value.

Rosewood

Rosewood is one of the most precious wood species in the world. (referring to high-quality red sandalwood) due to its scarcity and not many people seeing it, it is cherished by the world. According to historical records, rosewood is mainly produced in the tropical areas of the Nanyang Islands, followed by Southeast Asia. Guangdong and Guangxi in my country also produce rosewood, but the quantity is not large. A large amount of materials are mainly imported.

Red sandalwood is an evergreen sub-tree, five to six feet high, with compound leaves, butterfly-shaped flowers, and winged fruits. The wood is very hard and red in color, and it sinks when it enters the water. According to the "Chinese Tree Taxonomy": "Pterocarpus belongs to the Leguminosae family, with about fifteen species. There are two species produced in my country, one is red sandalwood and the other is rosewood." According to the understanding of modern botanical circles, rosewood is actually the large-fruited rosewood produced in India. It is very different from rosewood in the traditional sense, and people will not regard it as rosewood. Among the fifteen kinds of wood of the genus Pterocarpus, except for the sandalwood rosewood produced in Mysore state in southern India (commonly known as ox-hair pattern rosewood), the rest are all called grass rosewood. Rosewood is just one species of rosewood. No matter which kind of rosewood, its color, texture, and hardness are different from the traditionally recognized rosewood. Although it belongs to the genus Pterocarpus, it cannot be compared with rosewood. Mr. Wang Shixiang mentioned in "Appreciation of Ming-style Furniture" that "Scheffer of the United States once conducted a survey on red sandalwood and believed that the rosewood imported by China from Indochina is rose wood." This argument is patently false.

"Bo Wu Yao Lan" and "Zhu Fan Zhi" classify red sandalwood as sandalwood, and consider red sandalwood to be a kind of sandalwood. "Museum Summary" records: "There are several kinds of sandalwood, some of which are yellow, white and purple, and people today use them. The ones grown in the Jianghuai River and Shuo River are of this type, but they are not fragrant." He also said: "Sandalwood comes from Guangdong, Yunnan, Champa, Chenla, Java, Balni, Siam, Three Buddhas, and other countries. It is also found in Lingnan and other places today. The leaves are like lychees, with green skin. Slippery". "Sandalwood with a yellow skin and yellow color is called Dalbergia, white sandalwood with clean skin and white color, and red sandalwood with purple skin. It has a strong and heavy fragrance, and white sandalwood is particularly good." The second volume of "Zhufan Zhi" says: "The tree is like the Chinese lychee, and the leaves are also the same. The purple ones are called red sandalwood." The red sandalwood introduced in these two books does not seem to be the red sandalwood used in Ming and Qing furniture. It refers specifically to sandalwood in spices. Judging from the fact that he confused red sandalwood, rosewood, and white sandalwood together, he did not have a deep understanding of red sandalwood. In fact, the branches, flowers and leaves of red sandalwood, rosewood and white sandalwood are very different, and they are not in the same family at all.

In the spoken language of some people in Beijing, there are also terms new and old red sandalwood. It is believed that the old ones are purple in color and the new ones are red in color. After actual observation, the new rosewood they refer to is generally black rosewood. Old red sandalwood refers to the red sandalwood with ox hair pattern that people traditionally know. This kind of ox-hair pattern red sandalwood has different characteristics due to different ecological environments. Some are Venus-shaped, and some are chicken-blood-red in color, thus giving rise to names such as Venus red sandalwood and chicken blood red sandalwood. In fact, they belong to the same tree species. The main characteristics of rosewood are that its color is like a rhino, and it turns purple-black when exposed to the air for a long time. (Editor's note: Small-leaf red sandalwood is dark yellow when it is first opened. It will turn into rich red after two or three days, and eventually turn into luxurious purple-black as time goes by.) Most of the growth ring patterns of red sandalwood are twisted wires. . Some people call it crab claw pattern or cow hair pattern. Although there are also places with straight threads, if you look closely, there are always twisted threads. Rosewood has fine bristles and strong wood. When making rosewood furniture, its natural characteristics are often used, using light techniques without carving. Rosewood wood is hard, with fine and floating textures, especially its deep color, which makes it both solemn and beautiful.

In the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644), red sandalwood was valued by the royal family. The development of maritime transportation and Zheng He's seven voyages to the Western Ocean established trade and cultural exchanges with Southeast Asian countries. Countries often have a certain amount of precious wood, including rosewood, in their regular and irregular trade exchanges with China. However, this was far from meeting the needs of China's doting ruling group, so the Ming government sent officials to Southeast Asia to purchase them. Subsequently, private business trafficking also emerged. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, high-quality timber in various parts of Southeast Asia was basically exhausted. Especially the rosewood, almost all of it was bundled away. By the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, most of the red sandalwood produced in the world had been collected in China. All the red sandalwood used in the Qing Dynasty was collected in the Ming Dynasty. There are historical records that the Qing Dynasty also sent people to Southeast Asia to collect red sandalwood, but most of them were not thick enough to hold and the knots were not straight. Not usable at all. This is because red sandalwood grows slowly and takes hundreds of years to mature. It was completely cut down in the Ming Dynasty and has not yet been resurrected in the Qing Dynasty. The source is exhausted. This is also an important reason why red sandalwood is cherished by the world.

Western people such as Europe and the United States value rosewood more than Chinese people because they have never seen rosewood aniseed and think it can only be used for small utensils. It is said that there is a five-inch long rosewood coffin model in front of Napoleon's tomb. Visitors are all amazed and admire it, thinking it is rare. It was not until the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty that Western missionaries came to China and saw many large red sandalwood vessels, and then they realized that all the red sandalwood elites were in China. So they bought it from many parties and shipped it back to the country. The red sandalwood utensils now circulating in Europe and the United States are basically shipped from China. Due to the difficulty of transportation, they generally do not buy the entire object, but only those with patterns on cabinet doors, box surfaces, etc. After being transported back, wooden frames were installed for display.

In the mid-Qing Dynasty, due to the shortage of rosewood, the royal family purchased rosewood from private traders at high prices from time to time. There are records of the purchase of rosewood almost every year in the work files of the Qing Palace Construction Office. During this period, an unwritten rule gradually formed, that is, no matter what level of officials, as long as they see red sandalwood, they will never let it go. They will buy them all and hand them over to the royal family or local weaving institutions. After the mid-Qing Dynasty, all the wood hoarded by private merchants in various places were bought up. A large amount of these wood was used to decorate the Old Summer Palace and the Supreme Emperor's Palace in the palace. After Tongzhi, Guangxu's wedding and Cixi's 60th birthday, there was very little left. When Yuan Shikai arrived, all the remaining red sandalwood was used up.

In short, there are many types of wood belonging to the genus Pterocarpus, but there is only one type of red sandalwood recognized in the botanical community, "Pterocarpus rosewood". Commonly known as "small leaf sandalwood". The real place of origin is southern India, mainly in the state of Mysore. The other types of sandalwood are classified into the rosewood category.

Rosewood

Rosewood has bright colors and clear and beautiful texture. According to the "Museum Guide" records: "Huali is a flower palm tree in Guang (Guangdong and Guangxi) streams in Guangzhou (Jiaozhi, today's Vietnam). The leaves are like pears but without solids. The wood is red-purple in color and has a fine texture. It can It is used to make tables, chairs, utensils, and study utensils. "Supplementary Materials on Materia Medica" says: "Palm trees come from Annan and the South China Sea and are used as beds. They are like red sandalwood and are red in color. "It makes people have headaches as a pillow." Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" of the Ming Dynasty said: "Palm trees are hard in nature, purple-red, and also have patterns, so they are called flower palm trees. It can be used to make utensils, fan bones and other objects, and is commonly used as rosewood. "That's wrong." "Guangzhou Chronicles": "The flower palm is purple-red in color, slightly fragrant, and its pattern looks like a ghost face, also similar to the spots of a raccoon dog, so it is also called a flower civet. The old people have curved lines, while the young people have straight lines. Its festival flowers are round and halo like money, and those with different sizes are better." "Qiongzhou Chronicles" says: "Roosewood is produced in Lingshui, Changhua, Yazhou." In the Ming Dynasty, Huang Province once recorded in the "Western Tribute Code": "There are two types of rosewood. The species are: one is the palm tree, a tree produced in various places in southern my country; the other is Hainan sandalwood, a deciduous tree produced in various places in the South China Sea. Both can be used as high-end furniture. The book also points out that Hainan sandalwood is harder and finer than palm wood and can be used for carving. "Ge Gu Yao Lun" of the Ming Dynasty said: "The rosewood comes from southern Tibet and Guangdong. It is purple-red, similar to Jiang Zhenxiang, and also has a fragrance. Its flowers are as cute as ghost faces, and the flowers are thick and light in color. People in Guangzhou often use it as a Tea and wine cup." Hou Kuanzhao introduced a kind of sandalwood "Hainan sandalwood" called rosewood in Hainan Island in "Guangzhou Flora". Hainan sandalwood is a specialty product of Hainan Island. It is a forest plant and likes to grow in damp places in valleys. The wood is quite good, the sapwood is light in color and slightly loose, and the heartwood is reddish brown and hard. The texture is exquisite and beautiful, suitable for carving and making furniture.

Modern botanical research has proven that rosewood is not the same tree species. As mentioned above, all rosewood species belong to the genus Pterocarpus. The flower palm tree belongs to the subfamily Papilioideae. Huanghuali wood in traditional understanding belongs to the genus Dalbergia of the subfamily Papilioideae.

Various rosewood species of the genus Pterocarpus are mainly produced in Southeast Asia and Guangdong and Guangxi areas of my country. The flower palm trees of the genus Oryza are mainly produced in southern my country. Dalbergia Dalbergia (also called Huanghuali) of the Dalbergia genus is only produced in Hainan Island, my country, that is, the "Hainan Sandalwood" introduced in Hou Kuanzhao's "Guangzhou Flora". Hainan Sandalwood, also known as Hainan Dalbergia, or Dalbergia Dalbergia, is a specialty of Hainan Island. It is obviously unscientific to collectively call three kinds of wood from different families and different wood species rosewood. They should be distinguished.

There is also a wood species similar to rosewood, called "musk wood". According to "Zhufan Zhi": "Musk trees grow out of Champa and Zhenla, and the old servants of the trees are buried in the soil and rot. The ones that are ripe are the best. The smell is vaguely like musk, so it is called musk. If you cut down the raw wood, you can get it. If it is strong and evil, it is of inferior quality. Most spring people use it as utensils, such as rosewood and the like."

Legend has it that rosewood can also be divided into new and old. Huanghuali is the old rosewood in people's traditional understanding. Its color ranges from light yellow to purple-red, with delicious color, clear texture and fragrance. Most of the more elegant furniture in the Ming Dynasty was made of old rosewood. New rosewood generally refers to all kinds of grass rosewood. The wood color is reddish-yellow, and the texture and color are much worse than those of old rosewood. Huanghuali belongs to the genus Huanghuali, and Caohuali belongs to the genus Pterocarpus. It is obviously inappropriate to confuse the two.

Huanghuali

Huanghuali is one of the world’s most precious wood species and is a specialty of Hainan Island. Its heartwood is the famous Chinese medicinal material - Fallopianum, which can be used to relieve blood pressure, reduce blood pressure, It is used to relieve shock, so it is also called "Fragrant Wood" and "Hypertension Wood". Cantonese people call it "Xiangzhimu". In 1980, the scientific name was officially determined as "Hainan Dalbergia Dalbergia". It is commonly known as "Huanghuali" among the people. In early records, it was mostly called "flower palm tree", which is a misunderstanding; some people call it Hainan sandalwood, which is also inaccurate. Hainan sandalwood is a kind of wood species in which the difference between heartwood and sapwood is not obvious, so it cannot be compared with Dalbergia rosewood. According to modern plant taxonomy, Dalbergia Dalbergia belongs to the genus Dalbergia of the Fabaceae subfamily Papilioideae. Hainan incense is the wood species with the best material in the genus Dalbergia. Among the many wood species of the Dalbergia genus, except Dalbergia dabergia, which is called "Xiangzhimu" (Huanghuali), other wood species are included in the rosewood (i.e. rosewood) category.

The vast majority of the so-called "Huanghuali" currently circulating in the market are Vietnamese Rosewood, Laos Rosewood, Burmese Rosewood, Cambodian Puzhai Rosewood, etc. Its color texture is slightly similar to that of huanghuali in ancient furniture, but the silk texture is extremely thick, the wood is not hard, and the color is not as bright as Hainan huanghuali.

Huanghuali is also commonly known as "old flower pear". Its color ranges from light yellow to purple-red, with delicious color, clear texture and fragrance. The more elegant furniture in the Ming Dynasty was mostly made of huanghuali wood. These characteristics of huanghuali wood are often used and brought into play by craftsmen when making furniture. Generally, the whole body is made of plain light without any carvings. This highlights the natural beauty of the wood texture and gives people a quiet and soft feeling.

Hainan rosewood mainly grows in the high mountains in the west of Hainan Island. The wood is heavy, the texture is fine, and the color and pattern are beautiful. The altitude in the east is low, the land is fertile, and the growth is faster. The trees are white and light in texture, and have little in common with those growing in the valley.