Ming-style furniture is an artistic achievement formed by China in Ming Dynasty, and is praised as a pearl of oriental art by the world. It enjoys a high reputation in the world furniture system.

It was developed on the basis of furniture in Song and Yuan Dynasties, and made great breakthroughs in technology, modeling, materials and structure. Ming-style furniture has always been regarded as the peak in the history of ancient furniture in China and the model and representative of the national form of furniture in China.

It has the characteristics of simple and elegant shape, simple structure, highlighting the natural texture of wood, not adding complicated decoration, and paying attention to practicality and beauty.

The characteristics of furniture in Ming dynasty can be summarized as three points: hard tree species were widely used to make all kinds of hardwood furniture; No need to paint, which fully reflects the original texture and color of wood; Adopt wooden frame structure, pay great attention to the modeling of furniture.

Ming-style furniture pays attention to material selection, using hardwood such as mahogany, rosewood, rosewood, chicken wing wood and iron pear. Some furniture also uses hard miscellaneous wood such as nanmu, elm and camphor wood, among which Huang Huali wood has the best effect.

Hardwood is a relatively precious wood. Its wood is hard and elastic, and its color and texture are beautiful. Therefore, Ming-style furniture rarely uses paint, and only transparent wax can show the texture and natural beauty of wood itself.

2. qing-style furniture

Qing-style furniture refers to furniture with typical Qing-style arts and crafts style, which appeared in Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty, prevailed in Qianlong period and stagnated in the middle and late Qing Dynasty. Another feature of qing-style furniture's development is the formation of different regional characteristics. According to its origin and style, it can be divided into three systems: Soviet-style furniture, Guangdong-style furniture and Beijing-style furniture. Namely, Suzhou, Guangzhou and Beiping, are considered as the three masterpieces of qing dynasty furniture.

Qing-style furniture experienced nearly 300 years of history, from inheritance to development, and finally formed its own independent style.

Furniture in the early Qing dynasty was in the state of following the traditional style of Ming dynasty. However, since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, thanks to the efforts of emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, the society and politics have been stable and the economy has developed, which is recognized as the "prosperous time of the Qing Dynasty" in history. Therefore, the home style in this period has reached unprecedented richness and brilliance. The overall shape is also very grand and solemn.

The third stage is Daoguang to the late Qing Dynasty. At this time, because China experienced the historical disaster of the Opium War, foreign capitalist economy, culture and the import of the church, China's originally self-sufficient feudal economy changed, and foreign culture also penetrated into the territory of China. The home style in this period was also influenced and changed without exception.

Qing-style furniture has the following characteristics: pursuing innovation in variety and modeling; Broad vision of materials; Decorative in technology; The artistic style combines Chinese and western styles.

Its biggest feature is heavy materials and extravagance. The overall size of qing-style furniture is larger than that of Ming-style furniture, and it pursues a wider, thicker and more luxurious atmosphere, and the corresponding local size is also increased. Qing-style furniture pursues the absolute triviality and complexity of decoration, so its decoration is extremely gorgeous. The production process combines carving, inlay, painting, painting, rhinoceros removal and other manual skills. , and decorated with many patterns.

The materials used are varied, besides the common pebbles, mother-of-pearl, ivory and beech, there are also gold and silver, porcelain plates, treasures, rattan and bamboo, jade, animal bones and even cloisonne. And most of the contents are complex auspicious patterns and words.

3. Furniture of the Republic of China

During the period of the Republic of China, Chinese and western cultures merged, and western culture entered the coastal cities of China. China traditional mahogany furniture began to blend into the "European style", breaking the style of traditional mahogany furniture and forming a distinctive "Republic of China style".

On the basis of inheriting the furniture styles of Ming and Qing Dynasties, the furniture styles of the Republic of China have undergone new changes. On the one hand, it is manifested in the simplification of traditional furniture decoration forms in China, and the transition from high-grade mahogany materials to ordinary "white wood" materials.

On the other hand, the specific amount of the people's Republic of China has increased, and the style has absorbed the decorative style of western furniture, adopting the method of "made in China", with rich carving and beautiful curves; Colored glass and mercury-plated glass mirrors are widely used in furniture, and carved decorations such as scrolls, hanging yarns and ear clips have appeared, such as the legs, horseshoes and animal claws of Queen Anne and Louis XIV.

Western-style copper ornaments are widely used in home, among which, some European-style drop-shaped copper handles are complex in fancy and strange in shape; Sofas are mostly decorated with leather and western-style patterned fabrics; In the modeling structure of cabinet furniture, there is a style of "wearing boots and hats" with the top and bottom separated.

Characteristics of furniture in the Republic of China: the carving style is no longer "the picture must be intentional and the meaning must be auspicious", but more European patterns are integrated; The characteristics of leg-style changes in furniture absorb the European Baroque and Rococo decorative styles, emphasizing Fiona Fang changes and beautiful curves; Compared with Ming and Qing furniture, the volume, height, width and thickness have all increased.

4. Modern furniture

At this time, China is going through the period of "Cultural Revolution". Social unrest, normal social and economic activities and industrial production have been damaged to varying degrees, leading to stagnation of furniture production and serious shortage of market supply.

In the late 1970s after the Cultural Revolution, everything in China was in ruins. As a necessity of people's life, furniture has been highly valued by the government and started to develop normally.

The civil furniture in this period is still the continuation of Shanghai style furniture in variety and style, and the big wardrobe, five drawers and western-style screen beds are all simplified Shanghai style furniture. Its biggest feature is the concept of a suit. Each set of furniture includes bed, bedside table, wardrobe, chest of drawers, dressing table, dressing stool and other bedroom furniture, and sometimes includes dining table, dining chair or dining stool. A set of furniture has 9 pieces and 36 legs, and "36 legs" became the most popular furniture fashion at that time.

During the Cultural Revolution, materials were scarce, furniture decoration was relatively simple, and traditional decorative arts such as carving and mosaic almost disappeared. The most important decorative form is the combination of lines, feet, feet and veneer of functional parts.

1In the mid-to-late 1980s, modular furniture appeared in China. The concept of modular furniture is to combine single pieces of furniture with different functions, different specifications and different forms according to certain standard modules, so as to make it a fully functional whole and make full use of indoor space. At that time, the combined furniture mainly included multifunctional combined cabinets in the living room, combined bookcases and filing cabinets, and combined bedroom furniture. Modular furniture became the mainstream product in China furniture market at that time.

5, modern home

After the founding of New China, the art of furniture has made greater development, with more colorful forms and integrated with modern life. Since the reform and opening up, a large number of furniture from advanced countries have flooded into China, bringing new styles and new types of furniture with modern functional requirements from all over the world, which have been replicated in China, forming a diversified situation in which many styles of East and West coexist.

Modern furniture is mainly based on the following five types:

Modern minimalist style: concise, lively, practical and generous. Because "minimalism" philosophy of life is everywhere in today's popular culture.

Modern avant-garde style: relying on new materials, new technologies and endless changes in light and shadow, pursuing unconventional space deconstruction, bold and contrasting color arrangement, and selecting materials with both rigidity and flexibility.

Elegance: the owners of literary and art circles and education circles have a special liking for elegance. They pay attention to taste, comfort and warmth, but also require a relatively simple design style.

Neoclassical style: this style has both classical and modern aesthetic effects, and the perfect combination also allows people to enjoy material civilization and get spiritual comfort.

Mediterranean style: characterized by paying attention to space collocation in combination, choosing natural and soft colors, making full use of every inch of space, and integrating decoration and application.

With the changes of the times, a new kind of Chinese furniture is deeply loved by people. Because of its natural texture, rigorous combination technology, ingenious structure technology and production technology, as well as precious artistic connotation and artistic character, people feel the elegance of life.

6. New Chinese furniture

The new Chinese style can be said to be the deduction of China's traditional style under the current background. It is not a bunch of pure China elements, but a combination of traditional culture and traditional elements to create a home style that meets the needs of modern people and aesthetic needs.

In terms of technology, new Chinese furniture mostly adopts semi-tenon-mortise structure, which mainly imitates ancient furniture and can also be said to be the continuation of Ming furniture. In practical function, according to the theory of ergonomics, it has strict structure and lines, and realizes the characteristics of humanization with simple design style. Thereby reflecting the comfort of furniture.

The new Chinese style pays more attention to feeling, just like China's freehand brushwork, which can only be understood but not expressed. They often just grasp a China element, and then extend a series of products to convey a beautiful furniture meaning.