Current and coming

Magazine Antiques, April, 1996 by Allison Eckardt Ledes

The elegantly simple and graceful furniture made in China for the upper classes has been widely published. Less well known is the furniture made for humbler citizens outside the cities. These pieces are notable for their exuberance and imaginative, almost fanciful, interpretation of classical design. An exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, presents forty pieces of country furniture made during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and culled from private collections. The show, entitled Friends of the House: Furniture from China's Towns and Villages, is on view until August 7. The objects are arranged in four room settings, each representing a region of China. Smaller objects such as baskets, wood-block prints, and carpentry tools from the museum's permanent collection are installed with the furniture to give the four vignettes more depth.

The design of houses in rural China depends heavily on the climate of the region where they are situated. In the colder northern sections such as Shanxi and Shaanxi, houses were bolt into the side of a cliff and therefore received light only through the entrance wall. Conversely, in the warmer south, houses had large expanses of latticework windows covered with paper. These circumstances dictated the type of furniture farmers and peasants made and the kinds of materials they used.

Chinese society was divided into four levels, with officials at the top, followed by peasants, artisans, then merchants. The furniture made for the lower classes follows traditional methods of joinery used in pieces made for the rich, yet the materials vary considerably. The upper classes had furniture made of expensive hardwoods, while in rural areas woods such as bamboo, lacquered elm, and even tree roots were used, since they were both affordable and readily available. These humbler woods were often decorated with ornate carving that differs considerably from that on high-style pieces in the classical tradition. Paintings and other documents of the Song dynasty (960-1279) reveal that country craftsmen of later periods often preserved furniture forms hundreds of years old. Thus couch-beds, for example, that were used in ancient times and are known today through archaeological excavations, continued to be made in rural China in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Like Chinese art, vernacular furniture relies heavily on symbols that were recognized by everyone, regardless of their standing in the community. The word for bat (fu), for example, is pronounced the same as the word that signifies good fortune; bats, therefore, became a common decorative image. The dragon is an important symbol of status and wealth, with the five-clawed dragon reserved for the exclusive use of the emperor and his officials. Chinese craftsmen of lesser means were therefore careful to incorporate dragons with fewer than five claws when decorating their furniture.

The furniture in the main rooms was arranged in a prescribed fashion. In the reception hall a long rectangular table along the north wall was laden with revered objects and offerings. A square table was placed in front of it with one or two chairs at either side, which were drawn into the room for dining. Chairs, stools, or benches were arranged around the walls and moved as necessary.

Bedrooms were less formal and, along with beds, usually contained a rack on which to hang clothes, a washbasin stand, commode, and chests. Tables for activities such as reading or sewing were positioned near the window to take advantage of daylight.

Northern Chinese houses had a kang, a raised brick platform that was warmed by the stove and provided a place where the family and guests gathered for meals and to sleep. The kang often took up a third of the space in the main room of the house and was equipped with specialized pieces of furniture, including a square table in the center and side tables at either end.

Among the more unusual pieces in this exhibition are stools made from tree roots, which came into favor during the Tang era (618-906) in Zhejiang province. These curious objects reflect the Chinese reverence for natural forms. They usually follow the shape of the roots as they were found and therefore vary considerably in appearance.

One of the most charming furniture forms, the family shrine, a fixture in almost every Chinese house, is unfortunately one of the rarest survivals (see illustration at left). The spirit tablets of ancestors were placed inside these miniature houses, which were on table tops where they were accessible for the frequent offerings made by household members.

Cabinets became popular in the Song dynasty, both freestanding forms and those meant to be placed on tables in the bedroom, kitchen, and study. Frequently they were made in pairs and have intricate arrangements of shelves and drawers.

The catalogue of the exhibition was written by Nancy Berliner and Sarah Handler. It contains 131 pages, 46 color plates, and 70 black-and-white illustrations. It may be obtained for $25 (paper covers) or $50 (hard covers) plus $4.50 for postage and handling from the Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, Salem, Massachusetts 01970-3783.