CLASSIC CHINESE FURNITURE

Classic Chinese furniture embraces artistry and craftsmanship, whether it is the graceful curves of a horseshoe-back chair or the subtle beauty of an antique cabinet or chest. The ideal has always been to display simple, elegant lines, and especially graceful curves, and to render these with superb craftsmanship. The quality and accuracy of joinery was so precise that nails and glue were unnecessary. When metalwork was added, such as handles, hinges and lock plates, it was designed to complement the graceful lines of each piece. Their timeless simplicity and perfect proportion mean that they are still graceful and appropriate even in the most modern Chinese house, suggesting that the elite scholars and officials of the time preferred a more refined and restrained finish. The range of finishes that were used for furniture of the Ming period included heavy carved lacquer, occasionally inlaid with mother-of-pearl or agate; plain red or black lacquer; and a more natural finish, allowing the grain to stand out and the beauty of the wood to be the main focus of the piece. The Ming aesthetic continues to influence interior design to this day in China. With its philosophy of functional design and simple materials, it remains a cornerstone of contemporary decoration. And with only a small table and a couch bed installed, people can recognize a room’s charm. By this means, quality takes precedence over quantity.

A guest bedroom is furnished with an eighteenth-century four-poster bed in chicken wing wood and a pair of horseshoe chairs flanking a black lacquer elm wood incense stand holding a Han dynasty pot. Above are two Qing marble panels in hong mu frames.

The view from inside a finely decorated Ming canopy bed with latticework panels, towards a brass-fitted double cabinet.

In the Pearl Lam apartment in shanghai, antique doors act as a dividing wall. The seating—two Ming chairs intersecting with a red-lacquered modern frame—is by artist Shao Fan.

Ming chairs and a kang table in huanghuali wood furnish a bedroom.

A brass-handled chest with an inverted taper and recurved legs.

A Qing side table with a raised shelf with everted flanges.

A chest with brass fittings in the Ellsworth apartment.

A zitan wood hat stand from 1920s shanghai. The birdcage is also in zitan.

A pair of nested Qing altar tables.

A nineteenth-century chinese medicine chest with twenty-five individual drawers.

A seventeenth-century huanghuali tapered wood-hinged cabinet.

The end of a bronze sofa with openwork carving following a traditional chinese cloud motif, and hand-embroidered silk upholstery.