Some time ago, I watched a particularly interesting documentary called "The Secret of China", which talked about many ancient tombs. A Han tomb in Xuyi County, Jiangsu Province aroused my strong interest!

Don't get me wrong, I don't like tomb raiding, but as a collector, I found a particularly large eleven-casket in this ancient tomb.

What is this concept? It's almost the dresser of 1 1 drawer! God, you know, among Mawangdui, which was rated as "Top Ten Rare Treasures of Ancient Tombs in the World", Mrs. Chiyou's tomb is just a tomb where nine sons were dug up.

You can take 1 1 coffins to the grave. The owner of this tomb must have had a prominent position before his death. It is said that the archaeological team found cosmetics in every drawer, such as eyebrow pencil, rouge and ear scoop ... It seems that this is still a delicate boy!

After watching the explanation of eleven cinerary caskets in the documentary, I have to feel once again that the superb storage technology of ancient people, such as sets, tubes, boxes, boxes, baskets, boxes and grids, is not an exaggeration to call it "the essence of storage"!

In fact, in the daily life of the ancients, storage was everywhere. All kinds of boxes, large and small, meet the daily storage needs of different items, which is simply a necessity for ancient home storage.

Long-lived multi-treasure box inlaid with ivory in clear mahogany

Many of our storage tools have evolved from ancient times. Today, the storage prince took Natto to see the "past lives" of these storage tools.

powder box

In ancient times, women dressed in front of bronze mirrors, but bronze mirrors rusted very easily. Therefore, in order to protect bronze mirrors, the ancients invented a dressing box (also known as dowry), which can be used to hold combs, jewelry, makeup and other items, as well as to comb hair and make up.

18th century Huanghua pear wood carving flower pattern square cosmetic box

The dressing box has exquisite and diverse styles, which are both practical and artistic, and can also be used as a dowry for daughters of ancient families.

Black lacquer gold lacquer cosmetic box

Cosmetic box has evolved into a necessary jewelry box for girls' dressing tables. It is a woman's nature to love beauty. No woman can escape the attraction of jewelry boxes, whether ancient or modern.

Duobao river

The treasure chest is a magical design. There is a box in the lid, a box in the box, and a drawer in the box. It looks square and nothing special, but when you open it, you will find a hole in it.

Gan Qing Dragon Ball Silk Iron Branch Flower Pattern Duobaoge Round Box

Like the cosmetic case, the multi-treasure chest is also a box for storing one thing, and each thing has its own "home", which is very convenient to find, rather than a pile of things piled together at will.

Why do you want to design like this? I consulted Xiao Qiao:

Because the ancient items were all in the right range, unlike so many now, you can buy them online. It used to be difficult to get things, so each thing has its own fixed position.

Now we are too rich in material things and too eager to be dragged down by things. Storage methods like those of the ancients now seem out of reach.

-Mr. Xiao Qiao

Teacher Xiao Qiao became attached to Zhou, the former director of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, at Oriental Beauty School to discuss the ancient people's acceptance culture.

Modern people don't often use multi-treasure boxes, because compared with the ancients, we have too many things and not so many small things to play with. The design concept of multi-treasure chest has great reference significance in storage box, and many of our storage tools have evolved on this basis.

Qingganlong rosewood is embedded in the Bo Gu painting hanging screen of Duobaoge type, and each piece is placed according to the size, which does not waste space.

suitcase

Trunks are mostly rectangular, with a top cover, a lock in the front and pull rings on both sides. Some suitcases will be wrapped in copper sheets at the corners to prevent the boxes from being damaged due to bumping during transportation.

In addition to clothes, the suitcase can also be used to store valuables such as gold and silver treasures, books, calligraphy and painting. Because most suitcases are made of camphor wood, Chinese fir and other fragrant wood materials, these Woods have a special smell, which can play a role in bacteriostasis and insecticidal.

Ming Hua Zhuang Li suitcase

Why did the ancients like to store clothes in suitcases? Teacher Xiao Qiao said that this is caused by the unique folding culture in the East.

Tips:

1. Oriental clothes are cut into pieces, such as Hanfu and kimono, which need to be displayed in stacks.

The suit is cut in three dimensions and needs to be hung up.

In our advanced course, we will also help you review the whole reception history and the development culture of reception in various countries.

Clothes are stacked into small pieces and put in suitcases, which is a good way to store clothes in ancient times.

Nowadays, many eastern cloakrooms like to make laminated plates, which is also a misunderstanding caused by our clothes folding culture.

In fact, many of our clothes are cut in three dimensions, not suitable for folding, but suitable for hanging. Why does the storage prince always advocate that everyone try to lengthen the length of the clothes rail? This is because except sweaters, sweaters and other special clothes, other clothes are basically required to be hung.

Hanging can not only keep the shape of clothes, save the time of folding clothes and ironing clothes, but also have better ventilation.

-Mr. Xiao Qiao

Up to now, luggage has become a necessary luggage for our business trip. Compared with the ancients, it is much more convenient for us modern people. There are rollers on the suitcase, which can be pushed and pulled anytime and anywhere.

gift box

Lunch box is actually an ancient lunch box, and it is also the storage tool with the highest frequency in ancient people's daily life.

The materials of ancient food boxes are much richer than now. Wooden boxes, lacquer boxes, rattan boxes, porcelain boxes and enamel boxes are all well-made and ingenious (just looking at the boxes will have a good appetite).

Exquisite carrying case for carved ivory figures in Qing Dynasty

Not only were the boxes beautifully made, but the ancients took food more seriously than we did. You know, in this era of take-away food to fill your stomach, few people can eat three meals a day like the ancients, and every meal is full of ritual and solemnity.

Incense box

The ancients loved to burn incense, especially the literati. Whether reading and writing, playing the piano and guzheng, or playing chess, they all like to burn incense in front of the table. The incense box is a small container for incense and spices.

Cloisonne incense box in Qing dynasty

The incense box is divided into a box body and a box cover, which is almost the size that one hand can hold. Although the incense box is small, the manufacturing process behind it is not simple. Carving, inlaying, gold lacquer, calligraphy and painting ... Every detail is full of the ingenuity of craftsmen.

Mongolian silver inlaid treasure box in late Qing Dynasty

Although modern people don't burn incense very much, people who pursue the quality of life often light an aromatherapy candle at home, and the containers that come with it are bell jar, wax cup, aromatherapy device and so on.

medicine cabinet

The structure of the medicine cabinet is similar to that of the cosmetic cabinet. After opening, it is a large and small storage drawer for storing all kinds of medicines.

Mingzitan medicine box

In ancient times, the medicine box was usually brought by doctors when they went out for emergency treatment, and it was not too big and easy to carry.

Huang Huali's small medicine chest in the early Qing Dynasty

In modern times, many people always keep a medicine box at home, but the structure of this medicine box is relatively simple, the drawer becomes a small grid, and the number of grids will not be much, mainly because our medicines are packaged now, unlike ancient Chinese medicines, which are scattered.

Writing case (official suitcase)

The pencil case is a small storage box with exquisite design, which was popular in Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the pencil case was gradually renamed as "official suitcase".

Transparent mahogany book-type pencil case

A business suitcase is neither used for business nor made of leather, and generally consists of a box body, a box cover and a box seat. There are two doors in front of the box and several drawers in it. The lid of the box is buckled with the box. There is a leaf pat in front of the door, and the handles are pressed on both sides.

Hainan Huang Huali official suitcase

According to research, almost every household in ancient times had an official suitcase, which could be used as both a dressing box and a pencil case.

Ming huanghuali top-mounted business suitcase

Up to now, the official suitcase is probably our common schoolbag or backpack, which can be used to hold stationery, computers and other items.

In fact, no matter boxes, boxes, boxes and cabinets, they are essentially spacecrafts: they use limited space to store the most items.

Box by box, box by box, not only represents the ancient people's superb art of storage, but also reflects the ancient people's ingenious thinking about exquisite life.

Even though thousands of years have passed now, this concept of "Chinese exquisite life" still affects us all the time.

In the middle of Qing dynasty, teeth were inlaid and dyed with black paint and gold.

Ancient people's storage wisdom is really amazing, but so is modern people's storage. There are not only various artifact blessings, but also professional storage courses. The ancients would never have thought that warehousing could become a profession one day!