The most valuable woods used were huanghuali and zitan both hardwoods found on hainan china s largest island.
Types of wood for chinese furniture.
Chinese pear huanghuali yellow flowering pear or huali is from the rosewood family.
These woods are denser than water fine grained and high in oils and resins.
Classic chinese furniture is typically made of a class of hardwoods known collectively as rosewood 紅木 literally red wood.
However not all types of hardwood are ideal for making furniture.
Pine comes in several varieties including ponderosa sugar white and yellow and all of them make great furniture.
Most hall furniture from imperial era china was made of mahogany or hongmu a tropical straight grained reddish brown hardwood.
2 softwood softwood comes from gymnosperms which are seed bearing evergreen trees such as pine spruce fir cedar juniper redwood and yew.
As most evergreen trees tend to be less dense than deciduous trees it is easier to cut them down.
Native chinese woods are primarily elmwood beechwood pine and fir with some mahogany and walnut.
Lacquered wood pieces either inlaid with mother of pearl or elaborately carved and plain hardwood pieces.
In some areas of the country especially southwest united states pine is the wood to use.
These properties make them dimensionally stable hardwearing rot and insect resistant and when new highly fragrant.
Many other native woods are tried some with success and others not so much.
Chinese furniture uses many types of wood that are not only known by their chinese names but also share their chinese names with several other types of wood so confusion may easily result.
China also has many native woods that are used.
The three most valued types of wood are huali zitan and jichimu.
Of the first almost nothing is known and dating of pieces is possible only from the designs of decorative motifs such as dragons and peonies and from their background motifs.
Along with having beautiful lustrous qualities the woods are difficult to harvest and mostly found outside china making them even rarer.
Pine is very easy to work with and because most varieties are relatively soft it lends itself to carving.
During the 80 s and 90 s the go to wood for a well grained look was rubberwood.
One is called chu wood and is similar in appearance to oak but is difficult to finish without dark streaking.