Woods popularly used for Chinese Ming and Qing furniture
l. Zitan wood--Pterocarpus santalinus
This is one of the most precious hardwoods in the world, coming mainly from the tropical islands of the South Pacific Ocean. It grows in some areas of China, Yunnan, Guangdong and Guangxi, but not in a large quantity. It takes hundreds of years for the wood to grow. It is of a very firm texture. It is a dark purplish-black to nearly black color with some irregular grain
2. Huanghuali wood--Dalbergia hainanensis
Most of the best Ming and Qing furniture were made of huanghuali wood from Hainan Island . It is a dense wood with a beautiful color, and a distinct variable grain pattern.
3. Jichi wood--Ormosia
Jichi wood is from Guangdong and Hainan Provinces. Before the 19th century, only a few pieces of furniture were made of jichi wood. It is dense wood in a purple-brown color with a grain that forms patterns suggestive of the feathers near the neck and wings of a bird.
4. Tieli wood--Mesua ferrea
Tieli trees are the largest of all the hardwood trees. Large pieces of Ming furniture were made from this wood. Its grain looks very similar to that of Jichi wood, but coarser.
5. Ju wood--Zelkova
The ju tree grows in Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas of south China. People in the north called it nanyu (southern elm). It is harder than many woods but not exactly a hardwood. Old ju wood has a reddish color known as xueju (blood.ju). Many pieces of furniture in Suzhou and Shanghai were made of it. Its beautiful grain, called pagoda pattern, looks like mountains piled upon mountains.
6. Rosewood--Pterocarpus indicus
The rosewood tree grows in Guangdong and Yunnan provinces of China, and in India, Bengal and Burma. There are two kinds: old and new. The old resembles Zitan wood, but is not as dark in color or as dense in texture. It was not widely used in the Ming and early Qing Dynasties. The shortage of huanghuli and jichi wood in the mid and late Qing period gave rise to its use.
7. Burl wood
Burl wood does not refer to the wood from a specific kind of tree, but to the wood cut from a large knot or twisted root. It can come from any kind of tree, such as nan burl wood, birch burl wood, huali burl wood. Each has a distinctive grain pattern. Some look like landscape scenery; some like clusters of grapes. Burl wood was prized for its patterns and often used for the floating panels of a table or for decorative inlay.
