The official hat chair is in classical Chinese furniture,
One of the most representative seats,
also the only one in both forms at the same time,
A seat that has been passed down through the world.
The controversy over the customs and cultures of the North and the South has endured for a long time.
Taking the official hat chair as an example, according to the shape system and the applicable area, it can be divided into two types: the four-headed official hat chair mainly used in the north and the southern official hat chair mainly used in the south.
From the perspective of the shape of the official hat chair, the northern official hat chair has the heavy responsibilities and responsibilities of the ancient literati, and the southern official hat chair is biased towards the hermit's elegance and indifference.
As a result, the Northern Officials suspect that the Southern Officials have lost their dignity, and the Southern Officials suspect that the Northern Officials are too utilitarian...
After hundreds of years of so on, to this day, the "Civil war" of the official hat chair is still "each has its own love".
The heroic "Northern Official"
More than 2,000 years ago, during the Han and Wei dynasties, Zen monks already sat on four-legged chairs with armrests and backrests, which had the prototype of the official hat chair of later generations.
By the fifth generation, the shape of this "bed" had been basically consistent with the official hat and chair, which was vaguely seen in the Southern Tang Dynasty painter Wang Qihan's "Survey Map".
In the Song Dynasty, the designers integrated the yarn hat and hat wings of the imperial court officials into the brain of the official hat and chair, and the Northern Official Hat and Chair was born.
The official hat chair in the form of four heads is also known as "Beiguan", and its basic shape is that the head and armrest of the chair are out of the head.
In the early days, the brains, armrests, and joint gang sticks of the northern official hat chair were all straight materials, and the joint gang sticks were thin and thick, and the goose neck was slightly bent.
Later, the official hat chair using curved material was produced, and its appearance was thus shaped to the way we see it today.
The Ming-style official hat chair conforms to the structural characteristics of the human body, and its shape and curve take into account the comfort under the premise of conformity and simplicity and solemnity, and realize the natural harmony of appearance and use.
For example, the legs of the Ming-style official hat chair pay attention to "four splits and eight forks", that is to say, the legs of the chair should be forked outward, which not only increases the complexity of the process, but also changes the force angle from the mechanical aspect, improving comfort and durability.
In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, with the aesthetic changes of the upper class, the shape of the official hat and chair also changed:
On the one hand, the furniture of the Qing Dynasty abandoned the beauty and ethereality of Ming-style furniture and instead pursued the expression of majesty and identity.
On the other hand, the Qing Dynasty advocated dignity and also advocated magnificence, using a variety of processes such as inlaying, carving, and painting for decoration, so that the official hat and chair formed a graceful and luxurious artistic expression.
Gentle "Nanguan"
The Nanguan hat chair is also known as the "headless official hat chair", the brain and armrests are not out of the head, and the southern craftsmen call this kind of chair "literary chair".
On the surface, the difference between the north and south official hats and chairs seems to be only the brain and the armrests, but a closer look can find many differences between the two.
Some scholars have put together two kinds of official hats and chairs with similar sizes, and found that the weight of "Northern Official" is significantly heavier than that of "Southern Official", and the reason for the difference in weight is actually due to the difference in form and materials between the north and south production styles:
Northerners have a heroic personality, so the use of materials and shapes is also larger, while the southerners are introverted and have a strong literary temperament, so the materials are fine, the shape is beautiful, and the volume is lightweight.
Nanguan hat chair to the armrest and the head and downward bend buckle as a feature, mortise and mortise production process for the "digging cigarette bag pot" type, with a flat tenon structure to give the Nanguan hat chair a smooth, smooth effect, its backrest is usually made of S shape, the brain recessed backwards.
epilogue
Compared with the throne, the Taishi chair and other seats, the temperament and shape of the official hat chair seem to be more peaceful, and the scope of application in the living room is also more extensive, perhaps it is precisely this that makes the official hat and chair that has been handed down endlessly.
The official hat and chair can be placed in many spaces such as study rooms, dining rooms, and main halls, which can be used to read, eat, and entertain guests.
Its simple and classic shape makes it both practical and collectible, placed in the living room, and occasionally sitting small can also be nostalgic.
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