Why is the name rosewood called rosewood? Any allusions?

Rosewood is a literary name, or a social name, which has nothing to do with science. The name of science is rigorous and irreplaceable, but literature is much more romantic. Sociology is more complicated and changeable, and it is easy to be used.

People in China always think that purple is an auspicious color. For example, the "purple gas coming from the east" often refers to Laozi's going through customs. When Guanyin Xi saw the purple gas coming from the east, he knew that a saint would come, so he respectfully asked Lao Tzu to write the eternal masterpiece Tao Te Ching. The Forbidden City, formerly known as the Forbidden City, is an old name, because of the purple star wall. This shows the status of purple.

At present, the earliest rosewood records can be found in the 3rd century. Since then, rosewood has been recorded in Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. But whether these rosewood and our dream rosewood are the same kind of wood, no one can say clearly now. One thing is certain, rosewood has always been expensive, ranking first among all trees, and it has been recorded in many ancient books, so rosewood has become Jupiter.

Although rosewood has a high reputation in China, it is a mess in scientific classification. Check the most authoritative books, China tree taxonomy classifies rosewood as Leguminosae or Pterocarya; Cihai called it Qinglong wood; China people's dictionaries are rather general: hard purplish-red evergreen trees can be used as valuable furniture. The fuzziness of rosewood in scientific classification does not delay people's enthusiasm for it. People who know a little about rosewood will be very happy when they talk about it.

Rosewood took advantage of this loophole. The rosewood we often talk about today or have a clear goal reference is the rosewood based on the Qing Dynasty rosewood furniture. It is a rosewood that can be seen at a glance. It is a rosewood sung by scholars for hundreds of years, not an alternative variety derived from the reputation of rosewood.

Unfortunately, there are many alternative species on the market now, and their names are painstaking. Small-leaf rosewood corresponds to big-leaf rosewood, island rosewood corresponds to mainland rosewood, African rosewood corresponds to Southeast Asian rosewood, and there are some strange rosewood. Everything with similar color, high hardness and heavy weight climbs with rosewood, and some academic institutions also hold seminars and demonstration meetings frequently to flaunt the "new discovery" of rosewood.

The reality we face is cruel. The red sandalwood used in the Qing dynasty has disappeared. File clearance: During the Qianlong period, the red sandalwood in the palace was almost exhausted. Once a species is extinct, it is almost impossible to regenerate. For example, tigers are divided into eight subspecies in zoology. We are familiar with the Northeast Tiger, South China Tiger, Sumatra Tiger, Indian Tiger and Java Tiger. Now three subspecies have been extinct, and the extinct Xinjiang tiger has struggled to offer a reward for pulling the net, so far nothing has been achieved. Extinction is irreplaceable, and bringing a Siberian tiger is not a Xinjiang tiger in the eyes of experts. However, tigers are limited to ordinary people who generally know them. You can say that you have a tiger in your arms. Red sandalwood is like this at present. Everyone calls the similar red sandalwood they got red sandalwood and promises.

If we treat rosewood with a literary attitude, all similar species can use this name. However, enthusiasts who are obsessed with collecting antiques need to be picky about it if they want to take the real rosewood into their pockets.

Rosewood is not a tree name, and there is no corresponding tree. So far, academic circles have failed to reach a unified understanding on this issue. Therefore, the charm of rosewood lies in this, full of literary fantasy.

Cognition of redwood

Everyone who is interested in rosewood hopes to become an eye-catching person overnight and will pick it out from the complicated hardwood. But there is a procedural problem. If you don't know anything about the social environment of rosewood, it is really a difficult problem to judge rosewood.

The general physical properties of rosewood are: dark color, reddish purple; If the weight is heavy, it will sink when entering the water; High hardness, general strike without leaving traces; The texture is dense and can be cut horizontally and vertically. However, these characteristics are not accurate scientific data, but only the general feeling of experts. Language communication varies from person to person, so does understanding. Therefore, red sandalwood has incorporated all kinds of romantic and magical imagination in the long inheritance.

In the early years of Yongle, Ming Taizu Judy made seven voyages to the West. The mighty fleet is full of silks and satins and rich materials, handing over wealth like rich relatives going to the countryside. China's feudal society despised commerce, and Zheng He didn't take it seriously. He felt that it was particularly bad for rich relatives to bring back local products from the countryside and return empty-handed. But when an empty ship sails at sea, it swings too much in the wind and waves. In order to prevent the ship from capsizing, heavy ballast is needed in the cabin. Rosewood produced in Southeast Asia can be used as ballast.

At this time, rosewood was piled up at the bottom of the cabin without branches and leaves, and was transported to China by mistake. Rosewood was of little use when it first arrived in China. Before the mid-Ming Dynasty, the high-grade furniture of the court and the people were mainly painted furniture, and there was no rosewood.

Rosewood must be made into small things first. The color and good physical properties of rosewood are loved by the market and the court, and its status has also climbed. In the late Ming Dynasty, people discovered the solemn and graceful beauty of rosewood and admired it. Then, rosewood, like a new star, stepped onto the historical stage and played the leading role.

The charm of the protagonist determines the vitality of a big drama. Red sandalwood joined the ranks of Ming and Qing furniture and immediately led the fashion, which lasted for 500 years.

Once the rosewood with moderate hardness is carefully polished and waxed, it immediately emits a faint and dull light, with a looming texture and dense brown eyes; Touch it with your hands, it's as smooth as satin. Especially after a long time, it forms patina, which is as shiny as metal and very attractive. If there is a carver, rosewood can show the subtleties of decoration incisively and vividly, and those who are fine wear branches, commonly known as crossing the bridge; Thick, round and full, especially the yin and yang of flowers, the muscles and feathers of animals, and the exquisiteness of rosewood carving are beyond the reach of other materials.

Unfortunately, such excellent materials are rare. Red sandalwood in Ming and Qing dynasties is subject to court furniture. The width of common panel materials is less than 15CM, especially in places with excellent talents and no wide boards. Occasionally, the ultimate width of rosewood board is less than 30CM. It is conceivable that the hollow trunk is extremely difficult to open wide materials. As the saying goes, "Ten Tanjiukong" is very telling. In the past, some merchants reported that they found a rosewood square table with two panels. You don't have to read it, but you'll know if it's right after listening. I have seen countless rosewood square tables, ranging from four or five to seven or eight, but I have never seen two, so my narrow experience is sometimes very effective.

The above is still a general way to judge rosewood. The overall advantage is that you can immediately establish an almost correct judgment on a new thing. At first, it is easy to go astray by emphasizing nuances, a famous idiom: the blind touch the elephant.

Classification of redwood

As I said at the beginning of the column, the name of rosewood is complicated now. All kinds of "rosewood" are named for show, in order to attract attention and occupy the market. At the beginning of use, rosewood was not classified. Later, due to its lofty status, the market demand increased sharply. In order to adapt to the changes in the market, rosewood became more detailed and classified. But it is inevitable that the fish and dragons are mixed, and the mud and sand are mixed.

The popular prefix words of rosewood names are not recorded in history books. Even what people say orally is in recent ten years. What lobular rosewood, what island mainland rosewood, are the efforts of businessmen.

The earliest classification of rosewood was handed down by craftsmen. For example, Venus rosewood refers to the most representative furniture, and most of the rosewood furniture in Qing Palace is made of this material. Venus originally refers to the golden point that usually shines in rosewood exhibitions. On dark purple wood, golden spots often flash in strips, which is the origin of the name Venus rosewood. However, most of what Venus flashes is new materials or well-preserved and very clean furniture. After a long time, Venus is a little dirty and it is difficult to observe clearly. At this time, there appeared a synonym-red sandalwood with cow hair, which refers to the brown eyes with a surface as fine as cow hair and even and finely divided. These are two sides of the same thing, one side is heavy color, the other side is heavy modeling. However, there is an extremely interesting phenomenon. Most businessmen and collectors like to call it "Venus", and most craftsmen often call it "cow hair". Different emphases most directly reflect their positions.

Nowadays, if we have to find something similar, Venus (ox hair) rosewood is the closest. I thought lobular rosewood was a myth. Rosewood materials are not produced in China, but are imported and returned by sea. Rosewood has no branches and leaves before boarding the ship, leaving only the trunk, which is convenient for transportation and improves the utilization rate. Branches are useless, there is no need to get on the boat. No one in China has seen the leaves of rosewood, so it is impossible to compare the sizes of the leaves. Many years ago, I heard an old craftsman say that the brown eye size of rosewood can distinguish the quality of the material, and small eyes are better than big eyes.

Beijing dialect is so inflected that outsiders with small eyes sound like lobules. The layman takes it for granted that it is called lobular rosewood. Over time, the fallacy has been passed down to this day.

When the so-called lobular rosewood is scarce, the big Ye Er rosewood appears in black and pink. In the past, the big-eyed rosewood mentioned by old craftsmen was also called rosewood, which means that this kind of rosewood is rough in material and long in brown eyes. Huali mahogany is a substitute for mahogany furniture in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. The source is unclear and the quantity is not too much. Because the trade was not as developed as it is today, it would be good to find such a pair, and the big-eyed rosewood rushed out. This kind of rosewood has always been despised by collectors, thinking that it is just a few words.

However, the new materials we often talk about in the market today-lobular rosewood and big Ye Er rosewood, are not the above two categories, and they are entirely the efforts of businessmen. Forcibly classifying new materials similar to or close to rosewood, because of the tight market, accepted this statement and quickly became popular. Countless times, merchants told me that I was deeply moved by their persistence, such as Xiaoyeer and Ye Er.

Classification of redwood

Because the name of rosewood is unscientific and the classification is not sufficient. In history, all the classifications of rosewood are based on visual inspection, and a suitable name is taken according to the general cognitive law. If the name is accepted by the society, it will spread; No, only a few people are narcissistic.

In addition to Venus (ox hair) red sandalwood, there are mainly two kinds of red sandalwood: chicken blood red sandalwood and horn red sandalwood. Chicken blood rosewood, also known as cow blood rosewood, is characterized by clear wood grain, purple with large blood spots, and it is often rubbed by hand and irregularly distributed. When this rosewood just cut open the wood, the distribution and color of blood were particularly obvious, which was amazing at first sight. The amount of chicken blood rosewood is less than that of Venus rosewood and more than that of horn rosewood. Most of the furniture is widely made, probably because this rosewood came ashore from Guangdong port and was not transported to the mainland. Another feature of chicken blood rosewood is that the material is larger than the other two. Where the panel is wider, the material is stronger and there are more chicken blood rosewood. The good carving of chicken blood rosewood is not as good as Venus rosewood, so carvers often use carvers with rough styles, and all rosewood furniture with good taste belongs to this category. Chicken blood rosewood is a little different from the other two. It feels a little less hard, so the brightness is worse, which can not be ignored.

The other is horny rosewood. I have heard this praise from the old master of Lubange many times. This kind of rosewood is the least like rosewood to the naked eye. Its characteristics are the most difficult to grasp and the most easily overlooked. Anything that looks like rosewood and looks a bit like old rosewood may be croissant rosewood. This kind of rosewood has good quality and the highest hardness. Once polished, it gives off a faint and secret luster, especially after years, its beauty is beyond words. Claw rosewood, as its name implies, refers to the material similar to the texture of claw, which is delicate and less brown-eyed, and smooth as baby's skin when touched by hand. The texture of croissant rosewood is not as obvious as that of chicken blood rosewood, with thin texture and small discoloration. This kind of red sandalwood is really as cute as a horn when it is wrapped in pulp. It may be due to the above characteristics of red sandalwood, people who use this material rarely carve flowers, and most of them are plain. Craftsmen are well aware of this and foster strengths and avoid weaknesses.

Comparing Venus rosewood, chicken blood rosewood and horn rosewood, we can see some of their laws. Mastering these laws requires a lot of practice, and comparison is a shortcut. If these three kinds of rosewood are put together, it will be easier to distinguish and remember their respective characteristics. Once you remember these characteristics, you can use them, especially when you are helpless. You need to mobilize your memory inventory, filter out the most useful information and turn it into a visual image in your mind. Compared with the rosewood in front of you, this is no different from the computer function. The larger the storage capacity, the more effective the application.

I used two articles to explain the classification of rosewood, but it is still possible to miss it. What I tell readers is the traditional rosewood, which is the superior material used in small wooden blocks such as furniture in Ming and Qing Dynasties, instead of all kinds of rosewood today. The new rosewood that is widely used now will be mentioned later. Even the traditional rosewood, there are bad materials or misunderstandings. For example, the red sandalwood that old craftsmen used to say in the past refers to a kind of "red sandalwood" that appeared in the Republic of China with too thick brown eyes, similar to red sandalwood with brown eyes. This substitute is often dyed, and it is completely used to deceive the world. Therefore, we should use the idiom "make up for the deficiency". Of course, there is a more ridiculous saying "white sour branch", which is an ignorant and fearless saying. Where the rosewood has lost wax for a long time, it will show a white metallic luster after weathering by wind and sun. Once waxed and heated again, the white acid branches reappear immediately.