Furniture Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Xianyou classical furniture making craft originated in the early Ming dynasty.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Xianyou classical furniture making craft is a Chinese classical furniture making craft centered on Xianyou County, Fujian Province, formed through several hundred years of transmission and development. Xianyou classical furniture making selects precious timbers such as huali (padauk), zitan (red sandalwood), suanzhi (acid-branch wood) and jichi (chicken-wing wood) as raw materials. Its products are divided by use into five major categories: chairs and stools, tables and desks, beds and couches, cabinets and shelves, and scholar's studio miscellany. The pieces are of elegant design, rigorous structure, graceful form, ornate inlay, distinctive formal convention, ingenious joinery and fine carving. Its technical process includes timber drying, gauging the form and fixing the design, carving and incising, mortise-and-tenon joining, inlay and polishing, and surfacing and lacquering, which can be summarized as the five arts. The first is the art of construction: mortise-and-tenon joinery is the core technique for joining the body of Xianzuo (Xianyou-made) classical craft furniture, whose classic structures comprise 28 kinds of mortise-and-tenon joints and 36 methods of splicing, realizing the harmonious unity of form, material and craft. The second is the art of carving, bringing into play flat, round, openwork, pierced and finely engraved techniques to display the charm of the wood in blade and chisel marks and the grace of the wood in grain and material texture, combining point, line and plane to strengthen the sense of three-dimensional space. The third is the art of inlay, setting metal or other materials into conspicuous parts of the furniture to enhance its splendor. The fourth is the art of lacquering, using traditional lacquering methods to polish and wax, strengthening surface protection and bringing out the grain. The fifth is the art of painting, applying calligraphic and pictorial decoration to certain furniture elevations or partial areas to enhance artistic flavor. During the Yongle era, Xianyou craftsmen used redwood raw materials produced in Southeast Asia and applied classical techniques to create hardwood furniture in huanghuali (yellow rosewood), zitan (red sandalwood) and jichi (chicken-wing wood) that perfectly combined material and craft. During the reign of Emperor Xizong of the Ming dynasty, the famous Xianyou County craftsman Huang Ligen was known for his exquisite workmanship and lifelike carving. By the Qing dynasty, the carving techniques of Xianyou craft furniture making had become increasingly mature, presenting an artistic style of refined structure and rich ornament; auspicious motifs were very popular in this period, and the craft technology was extended to ornaments such as screens and the Four Treasures of the Study. The Xianzuo classical craft furniture making craft integrates such traditional cultural qualities as wood carving, Chinese painting and furniture construction, and possesses profound historical, cultural, artistic and folkloric value.
Seasoning the timber
Choice hardwoods are seasoned first; timber that is not properly dried will crack and deform along the joints later.
Fixing the grain and the design
The outline follows the grain and knots of the board; once the drawing is fixed it is not revised, so the moment of choosing the grain decides much.
The joinery craft
Joinery is the core of Xianzu furniture, with twenty-eight mortise-and-tenon types and thirty-six joining methods achieving unity of form, material and craft.
Carving and openwork
The carving craft uses flat, round, open, pierced and relief techniques to show the tool marks and the grain, building depth through dots, lines and planes.
Inlay and sanding
Inlay sets other materials into prominent parts of the furniture; after inlay the whole piece is sanded so no joint stands proud of the surface.
Lacquering the surface
Traditional lacquering and waxing protect the surface and bring out the grain; painting and calligraphy may be applied to certain faces in the same final stage.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The orderly transmission and development of this craft carries the wisdom of folk craftsmen and has played a driving role in local economic and social development.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Ming-style Furniture Making Craftsmanship · Furniture Making Craftsmanship · Furniture Making Craftsmanship · Furniture Making Craftsmanship · Furniture Making Craftsmanship · Furniture Making Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present this craft is mainly distributed in the production concentration areas of Bangtou Town, Duwei Town, Daji Town, Laidian Town, Gaiwei Town and Jiaowei Town in Xianyou County, Putian City, Fujian Province. It integrates practicality, ornamental value and collectible worth in one. Huang Fuhua (from the official archive of the associated inheritor): male, of Han ethnicity, born in July 1968, a native of Xianyou County, Fujian Province. He is a representative inheritor of the Furniture Making Craft (Xianyou Classical Furniture Making Craft), an item of the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. He is a certified craftsman of Xianyou classical furniture making. He was born into a family of woodcarving craftsmen. After graduating from junior middle school in 1983, he studied woodcarving under his father. He has inherited and carried forward the distinctive technical character of the clear-lacquer (qingshui) lineage of Xianzuo furniture; the furniture he makes pursues rigorous form, restrained ornament, material that is beautiful yet sturdy, and workmanship that is plain yet delicate, striving to embody the ancients' artistic principle and aesthetic pursuit of honoring nature, learning from nature, and seeking plain dignity. At the same time, he has focused on training young arts and crafts talent, taking on apprentices and teaching the craft; in all, he has trained more than one hundred backbone carving talents.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Xu Jianping 03-1318
- Zhongguiyou 03-1319
- Yang Xia 03-1320
- Cao Yunjian 04-1846
- Yang Jinrong 04-1847
- Huang Fuhua 05-2757
- Wang Zhaoqi
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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