From the historical research of Ming Dynasty furniture and early Qing Dynasty furniture by the Palace Museum Research Institute, they have an incomprehensible commonality, that is, they are almost not painted. However, in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, during the Qianlong period, the lacquering process of mahogany furniture began in the court. Almost no one can explain the reason for this incomprehensible fact.
We look back on the past two years, the sky-high price of fake Huanghuali furniture auctioned by Beijing Poly, a chair of more than 100 million, and a long case known as the world's largest case, have not been painted. However, the color of the two utensils is very different, and the chair should be the result of rubbing walnut oil, while the large long case is the result of rubbing olive oil. The reason why the long case is old and fake is too obvious is that history has proved that Huanghuali has no such large raw materials due to the fact that it has always been used medicinally. Although more than 100 million chairs have been inherited in an orderly manner, and can prove that they are the treasures of everyone in the late Ming Dynasty, but due to the reason that they are not painted, compared with the real Huanghuali chairs of the Ming Dynasty court that are only more than 60 million at Christie's auction and are also not painted, more than 100 million fake Huanghuali chairs can be described as unsightly!
In addition, there is another crucial question, that is, more than 20 years ago, when the Academy of Forestry first formulated the national standard for rosewood, why did it set up so many Huanghuali research associations? There are more than 10 Huanghuali research associations on Hainan Island alone. At that time, the pear in Haikou People's Park, Qionghai People's Hospital, Tropical Botanical Garden of the Two Hospitals, and Guangzhou South China Tropical Botanical Garden was pasted with the brand of "Fragrance Sandalwood". And in the early eighties, the Hongcheng Products Factory on Hainan Island has also produced so many so-called Huanghuali furniture and handicrafts, which are also not painted, but for more than ten years, perhaps the reason for not rubbing the oil, the fading is very serious, and there is no oily luster of Huanghuali. It is for these reasons, at least we have to admit that more than 20 years ago, authoritative and professional institutions did not recognize these sea yellow pear as huanghuali, nor did they recognize the books of those masters and experts, so many huanghuali research associations were established. However, these research associations, during the past ten years, not to mention the characteristics of Huanghuali, have not even seen the real thing. If you can't study the characteristics of Huanghuali, you can't explain the various questions left by the mahogany furniture related to Huanghuali?
I use the characteristics of my research on Huanghuali over the years to answer why mahogany furniture was not painted for such a long time, and why it began to be painted again. Although previous articles often mentioned that the characteristics of huanghuali are completely different from other mahogany, it is necessary to briefly emphasize them here to be convincing.
The core material of Huanghuali is rich in vegetable oil, which is not only non-toxic, edible and precious Chinese medicinal materials, but also can quickly change color, the most important thing is that it can be cured naturally in a short period of time, so that the surface of the wood forms a layer of oily slurry. It is for this reason that even if the utensils made by it are not lacquered, they are far more glamorous than the lacquer art, and there will be a sense of oiliness and heaviness that the lacquer light cannot reach! At that time, people did not have an in-depth study of Huanghuali as a furniture material, and they could not test the difference between Huanghuali and other mahogany in a short period of time, and they only felt that it was the same wood, and thought that other high-quality mahogany could also achieve the same effect as Huanghuali, and could reduce the cumbersome process of lacquer. Therefore, all the mahogany furniture of that period was not painted. However, in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, people found that all high-quality mahogany except huanghuali was not painted, not only the appearance was very poor, but also because the surface did not solidify, the wood would decay rapidly, so they began to paint the mahogany furniture again. It took a long time for this practice to be proven.
Over the years, many people who like classical furniture have participated in the study of Huanghuali, because only by having a deeper understanding of Huanghuali and mastering its material characteristics compared with other mahogany can we answer the unique workmanship of Ming Dynasty furniture.