With China’s international influence growing every day, trends are sure to start looking toward its vast history for fresh ideas. There are pros and cons to this. Trends can harness the power of the masses to test viability, or encourage us to find new uses for familiar things. On the other hand, trendy products are often executed poorly, trading quality and precision for mass production and profit margin. Combined with the competition for the increasingly fleeting attention span of consumers, trends often reduce the essence of the deeply thoughtful to quick and cheap thrills.
So before that happens, let’s take a tour of Chinese furniture design to learn about the subtleties of one of the most developed decorative arts the world has ever seen.
A Short History
If I mention Chinese furnishings, you might imagine ornate sinewy curves, elaborate carvings and brightly colored silk embroidery. You might also envision Chinoiserie, the imitation of Chinese design that was developed and used predominantly in Western European countries in the 18th and 19th centuries. You might cringe at the thought of so much clutter and visual distraction when all you want is to come home to some zen.
And you wouldn’t be entirely wrong, but what I just described is the aesthetic of only one short period in a very long history - the late Qing Dynasty. Specifically, the period after the 6th Qing emperor, Qianlong (1735-1796) is considered by many to be a turning point toward the overly decorative and less-than-tasteful (think of it like the Victorian period). Before this, however, there was a relatively steady upward progression of craftsmanship starting from 1600BC and peaking in the Ming Dynasty - a time of incredible aesthetic purity and balance. You might even call it Minimalism.
Shang Dynasty-Sui Dynasty
From 1600BC to roughly 300AD, furniture construction was rudimentary. Most of daily life was conducted on low platforms covered with mats and various types of tables. By the 3rd century, these platforms started being used for reclining and armrests started to appear. Hourglass-shaped stools also began to appear toward the end of this period.
Tang Dynasty
By the Tang Dynasty, all sorts of high tables, stools and chairs had been developed. Nonetheless, it was still common to kneel or sit cross-legged on low platforms.
Song Dynasty
Most forms of furniture we see today were being made and used in daily life by this point - tables, chairs, cabinets, beds, etc. The latter half of this period, known as the Southern Song Dynasty, laid the foundation for the blossom of furniture arts seen in the Ming Dynasty. Most of the aesthetic forms of the Ming had already taken shape by this time.
Fig.1, 12th C.
Ming Dynasty
This period, including the beginning of the Qing Dynasty is known as The Golden Age of Chinese decorative arts. The quality of materials, craftsmanship and aesthetic refinement reached incredible heights during this time and treasures of immeasurable grace are now some of the most sought after in the world.
Note the simplicity of line, austerity of form and richness in wood grain. There is a humble nobility to the way this chair sits that expresses the virtues of Chinese philosophy.
Fig.2, 17th C.
Qing Dynasty
The first half of the Qing Dynasty retained much of the same principles and practices as the Ming Dynasty. However, during the reign of the 6th emperor, Qianlong, China began to rapidly change. The country reached one of its most prosperous periods in history and furnishings were in demand by a growing upper class. Craftsmen competed for their patronage with novelties. As a result, standards of quality and form began to decline. Sound familiar?
Although still a beautiful example, we can see a slight retreat from its former dignity. The chair looks a little deflated, crowded around its midsection, and utilizes some ornamentation that seems more decorative than intrinsic.
Fig.3, 18th C.
Early 20th C.
Following the height of the Qing Dynasty in the late 18th century, China entered a century of overpopulation, internal conflict and the Opium Wars with European powers led by Great Britain. The Qing Dynasty steadily declined until 1912 when Puyi, the last emperor, abdicated his position to the Xinhai Revolution.
In many ways, you can see this confusing time of strife and undoing in the design of this piece. Some semblance of the original form is there but ornamentation is recklessly applied to the surface, as if to distract from the fact that it’s nothing but a warped empty shell of its former self.
Fig.4, 20th C.
Present Day
Overall, it isn’t the worst thing in the world. It isn’t covered in pointless decoration and the form is actually somewhat pleasing. The fake “weathered” oak is lifeless next to the rich Huanghuali wood of the original Ming, but it has its place. I only have two major gripes:
The curves on the top rail look like a handlebar mustache.
The little feet which were meant to mimic “horse hoof feet” commonly seen on Ming table legs are so shrunken they remind me of Kristen Wiig’s SNL character, Dooneese (click at your own peril).
So basically, it’s not bad if you were searching for a chair that looks like Dooneese with a mustache.
Fig.5, Current Production
Furniture Forms
Now that we’re a little more familiar with the time table and general evolution through side by side comparison of chairs, let’s examine a little more of how they’re categorized and why. Wang Shixiang lists four major classifications: tables; stools and chairs; beds; shelves and cabinets.
Tables
When it comes down to it, there are two distinctions that have determined most of the development of Chinese tables: waistless and waisted.
Waistless Table, Zitan
Qing Dynasty, 18th C.
Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Waisted Table, Huanghuali
Ming Dynasty, 17th C.
Courtesy of Alain Truong
Although only a subtle difference in visual design - one with an inset panel between top and apron and another without, the construction and historical development between “waisted” and “waistless” furnitures are completely independent. According to Wang Shixiang in Classic Chinese Furniture - Ming and Early Qing Dynasties,
Waistless furniture, such as the narrow table and the recessed-leg table, is very ancient and already existed in Shang (16th-11th Century BC) and Zhou (11th century-221 BC). Waisted furniture appeared much later.
Waistless furniture form likely originates from architectural forms which consist of a floor, round vertical pillars and a roof. The pillars slant slightly inward to provide stability, resulting in the base being wider than the top. This can be seen in the above image of the waistless table.
Waisted furniture, however, appeared in the Tang and Song dynasties after the spread of Buddhism and were influenced by the shape of pagoda pedestals.
The Pagoda Forest in Shaolin Temple, built in the Tang Dynasty in 791AD, clearly show the “waisted” shape in its pedestal.
Although most related to the development of table design, these two styles can be seen in almost any furniture form that consists of a base, legs and platform.
Chairs
There are many types of chairs that have come in and out of use over the centuries. Here are the forms that are most commonly used today.
Side Chair (kaobeiyi 靠背椅)
Characterized by having a back with no arms. This particular example is called a lamp-hanger chair (dengguayi 燈掛椅) due to the shape of the backrest resembling a bamboo lamp hanger.
Official’s Hat Chair (guanmaoyi 官帽椅)
An armchair characterized by the protrusion of the back rest and arms beyond the frame in all four points.
Southern Official’s Hat Chair (nanguanmaoyi 南官帽椅)
An armchair whose back rest and arms, in contrast to the Official’s Hat Chair, do not protrude beyond the frame.
Armchair with Curved Rest (quanyi 圈椅)
A chair with a single curved piece as its arms and backrest. Some might recognize this form in Hans Wegner’s iconic midcentury piece: China Chair.
Beds
Daybed
(ta 榻)
Luohan Bed
(luohanchuang 羅漢牀)
Canopy Bed
(jiazichuang 架子牀)
Take note of the characteristics such as waisted / waistless, horse hoof feet, curved vs. pillar legs that repeat in other pieces.
Cabinets
Display Cabinet (wanli gui 萬暦櫃)
A cabinet with two sections, the upper typically being an open shelf used for displaying objects.
Square Corner Cabinet (fangjiao gui 方角櫃)
A cabinet characterized by straight vertical sides and squared off corners.
Round Corner Cabinet (miantiao gui 面條櫃)
Named “noodle cabinet” for an unknown reason, the round corner cabinet’s sides are splayed, in contrast to the square corner cabinet, and it has a cap which extends beyond the sides in order to hide the door pivot mortises.
I hope this served as a good primer to Chinese furniture design. Now that we have a sense of the aesthetic and characteristic elements, our next explorations will look into species of wood, joinery techniques, and socioeconomic changes and their impacts on design philosophy during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Be sure to tune in.
Finally, I suspect influences from the this period will play a part in opening up the next age of design. It is deeply minimalist in philosophy, adhering to the discipline of “sufficient but necessary”. But in some ways, it has even taken the practice of minimalism further than where we are today. Beautiful and pure as they are, the Modernist designs of the past half-century sometimes leave me feeling a bit empty and I think it’s in the Ming that we will find hidden lessons that will bring us closer to completeness.
Perhaps it was best expressed by Wen Zhengheng (1585-1645), a literary and scholar in the late Ming Dynasty who wrote in Zhang Wu Zhi, his 12 volume compendium on aesthetic and design,
“宁古无时，宁朴无巧，宁俭无俗”
“aged over new, simple over ornate, modest over glamorous”
I leave you with these images of Boris Vervoordt’s home in Antwerp and his masterful use of Chinese antiques.
Chair, late Ming Dynasty
Console Table, mid Ming Dynasty