Chinese furniture is made from a variety of woods, including tropical hardwoods, bamboo, and also decorated lacquer examples.
Richly textured surfaces were often incorporated into furniture to provide a decorative element. Cabinet doors or table tops are the perfect canvas to showcase dynamic swirling grain or textured burl patterns.
Of the various woods used in Chinese furniture, the most desired hardwoods are huanghuali and zitan.
Furniture is one part of the material culture of a society. The diversity of furniture reflects the way people lived and how styles and tastes changed with time. Most authorities on Chinese furniture agree that the widespread adoption of the chair as the preferred manner of seating by about the 12th century represented a watershed for Chinese society. The subsequent changes to the way all types of residences were organised led to a proliferation of furniture types and styles. It would be almost impossible to exhaustively cover all furniture. However, the following provides a brief introduction to a number of the major categories.
All items are from the Humble House collection.
The earliest forms of storage were small boxes and over the centuries these evolved to larger chests. The basic form of the chest probably continued until the advent of the chair level of living when the raised lifestyle saw the introduction of cabinets and allowed for different ways to store articles.
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