Chinese furniture classification and name encyclopedia! (A must-read for getting started)

The history of Chinese furniture has been more than 7,000 years, and it is a "practical" product and a "recorder" of history and culture.

Long-standing development, so that furniture has a "fine" division of labor:

What furniture to use when sitting, what furniture to use for eating, what furniture to use for sleeping... People's production and life are closely related to furniture.

Five thousand years of Chinese cultural history, but there are more than 7,000 years of furniture development.

This "practical" furniture history is older and heavier than the history of words.

According to the different functions of chinese classical furniture, in principle, it can be divided into "five categories": chairs and stools, tables, beds, cabinets, and miscellaneous items.

Stools

Before the Han Dynasty, people did not have seats, and usually used mats made of thatch, leaves, animal skins, etc., to sit on the ground.

It was not until a kind of seat called "Hu Bed" was introduced to the Central Plains from outside the region that there was a real sense of chair stool.

After the full development of the Tang Dynasty, the chair was separated from the name of the Hu bed and directly called the chair.

Square stool

Round stool

Strip stool

Hand over the chair

Taishi chair

Official hat chair

Rose chair

Throne

Table case

The table case has a high status in ancient Chinese culture, is the product of the inheritance of China's etiquette culture, and is also an indispensable and important tool for ceremonial reception.

In ancient China, there was a strict hierarchy of table cases.

For example, the offering table is mainly used to commemorate the deceased elders and the ancestors, and the eight immortal square table is mainly used to receive important guests, for example, "please sit up" refers to the left seat of the eight immortal square table facing south, and the garden table is mainly used for family meals, the meaning of family reunion.

Round table

Square table

Eight Immortals Table

Crescent table

Piano table

Table for use

Case

Bed

The history of the bed dates back to the time of the Shennong clan, when it was only a seat for rest and hospitality, and it was not until after the Six Dynasties that high-foot seated bedding appeared.

In the era when "bed" and "bed" sat on the floor, there was a division of labor.

The bed is larger, which can be a seat or a bed, and the bed is smaller and is only used for seating.

Shelf bed

Pull-out bed

Luohan bed

Chaise longue

Cabinet racks

The use of cabinets began around the Time of the Xia Shang Dynasty, and the "cabinet" in ancient times was not the cabinet we see today, but very much like the box we see now, and the ancient "box" was specifically the place where things were stored indoors.

Among the excavated cultural relics, the earliest cabinets of the ancient era as of now should be the small box of the Chu Tomb of the Warring States of Changtaiguan in Xinyang, Henan, and the lacquered wooden clothing box of the tomb of Marquis Zeng Yi of Sui County, Hubei Province.

We say here that it is a box, according to modern people, if it is called by the Warring States period, it should be called "cabinet".

Rounded corner cabinet

Stuffy cabinet

Top box cabinet

Bright lattice cabinet

And others

In addition to chairs and stools, desks, beds, cabinet furniture, there are many types of items, such as: book boxes, printing boxes, carrying boxes, screens, basin shelves, mirror tables, etc., all summarized here as "other categories".

Printing box

Book box

Official leather case

Clothing rack

Basin rack

Carrying box

Mirror table

All are underwritten

Ground screen

Hang the screen

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