The name of red sandalwood
Red sandalwood is a literary name, or a sociological name, and has nothing to do with science. The name of science is rigorous and irreplaceable, but literature is much more romantic. Sociology is even more complex and changeable, and can easily be exploited.
Chinese people have always considered purple to be auspicious. For example, the often-quoted saying "Purple Qi is coming from the east" originally refers to Lao Tzu coming out of the Pass. Yin, the governor of Guan, was delighted to see the purple Qi coming from the east. Knowing that a saint was about to come, he respectfully invited Lao Tzu to write the famous book "Tao Te Ching". The Forbidden City was originally called the Forbidden City. This is an old name due to the Ziwei Star Wall. This shows the status of purple.
The earliest record of red sandalwood that can be found is from the 3rd century AD. Since then, records of red sandalwood have been recorded in the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. But no one can tell whether these red sandalwoods are the same wood species as the red sandalwood we dream of. One thing is certain, red sandalwood has always been expensive, ranking first among all woods, and has been recorded in many ancient books, so red sandalwood has become a wood star.
Although red sandalwood has a lofty status in Chinese oral tradition, its scientific classification is in a mess. Check the most authoritative books, "Chinese Tree Taxonomy" classifies red sandalwood as leguminous or rosewood; "Cihai" calls it Qinglong wood; "Chinese Dictionary" says it more generally: evergreen tree, hard wood, Purple red, can be used as valuable furniture. The ambiguity of red sandalwood in scientific classification has not slowed down the people's enthusiasm for it at all. Anyone who knows a little about red sandalwood will be very excited when talking about it.
Red sandalwood has taken advantage of this loophole. The red sandalwood we often talk about today or refer to with clear goals is the red sandalwood based on the red sandalwood furniture of the Qing Dynasty. It is a red sandalwood with a noble character that can be seen at a glance. It comes from the red sandalwood that has been sung by literati of all dynasties, rather than an alternative species derived from the fame of red sandalwood.
Unfortunately today the market is awash with alternative species with painstakingly named names. Small-leaf rosewood corresponds to large-leaf rosewood, island rosewood corresponds to continental rosewood, African rosewood corresponds to Southeast Asian rosewood, and there are also some strange and weird rosewoods. All those with similar color, high hardness and heavy weight are related to rosewood. Some academic institutions Seminars and demonstration meetings are also frequently held to flaunt the "new discoveries" of red sandalwood.
The reality we face is very cruel. The red sandalwood industry used by the Qing Dynasty has become extinct. It is recorded in the Qing Dynasty that the red sandalwood in the palace was almost exhausted during the Qianlong period. Once a species becomes extinct, it is almost impossible to regenerate it. To use an analogy, tigers are divided into eight subspecies in zoology. We are familiar with the Siberian tiger, the South China tiger, the Sumatran tiger, the Indian tiger, the Javan tiger, etc. Today, three subspecies have become extinct. The extinct Xinjiang tiger struggled to survive. I have been canvassing the land, offering rewards, and dragging nets so far, but nothing has been found. If it is extinct, it cannot be replaced. If you pick up a Siberian tiger, it is not a Xinjiang tiger in the eyes of experts. However, for ordinary people who only have a general understanding of tigers, whatever tiger you say you have in your arms is that tiger. This is how red sandalwood is at present. Everyone calls the similar red sandalwood they get red sandalwood and swears by it.
If we treat red sandalwood with a literary attitude, then all similar species can be called this. However, those who have a penchant for collecting antiques need to be very selective in order to get the real red sandalwood in their pockets.
Red sandalwood is not a tree name and has no corresponding tree. The academic community has not yet reached a unified understanding of this issue. Therefore, the charm of red sandalwood lies in this, full of literary fantasy.
Awareness of red sandalwood
Everyone who is interested in red sandalwood hopes to become a sharp-eyed person overnight and pick out red sandalwood among the cluttered hardwoods. But there is a procedural problem. If you know nothing about the social environment of red sandalwood, it is indeed a difficult problem to judge red sandalwood.
The general physical properties of red sandalwood are: deep color, purple with reddish color; huge weight, sinking when put into water; high hardness, generally leaving no trace when struck; dense texture, can be withheld by knives both horizontally and vertically, etc. wait. However, there is no accurate scientific data for these characteristics, and they are just the general feelings of experts. The language of communication varies from person to person, and the understanding also varies from person to person. Therefore, red sandalwood has been integrated with various romantic and magical imaginations during its long inheritance.
In the early Yongle period, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, sent Zheng He on seven voyages to the Western Ocean. The vast fleets were loaded with silks and satins and rich supplies, and they gave away their wealth like a rich relative going to the countryside. China's feudal society despised commerce. Zheng He did not take trade seriously. He felt that the local specialties brought back by his relatives from the countryside would be a loss of status, so he returned with an empty ship. However, the empty ship swayed too much when it encountered wind and waves while sailing at sea. In order to prevent the ship from capsizing, heavy objects were needed to ballast the ship. The rosewood produced in Southeast Asia happened to be able to recycle waste and acted as ballast.
At this moment, the red sandalwood was piled at the bottom of the cabin without any branches or leaves, and was transported to China in an awkward manner. When red sandalwood first arrived in China, it was not of much use. Before the mid-Ming Dynasty, high-end furniture in the palace and among the people was mainly painted furniture, with no red sandalwood.
When you start with red sandalwood, you must first make some small items. The color and good physical properties of red sandalwood were favored by the market and the court, and its status rose accordingly. In the late Ming Dynasty, literati discovered the graceful beauty of red sandalwood and highly praised it. Then, like a new star, red sandalwood appeared on the stage of history and played a leading role.
The charm of the protagonist determines the vitality of a drama. Rosewood joined the ranks of furniture in the Ming and Qing dynasties, immediately leading the way in fashion and remaining popular for five hundred years.
Once the moderately hard red sandalwood is carefully polished and waxed, it immediately shines with a layer of faint light, with looming texture and dense brown eyes. If you touch it with your hands, it will feel as smooth as satin. Especially after a long time, patina will form and shine with a metallic luster, which is very attractive. If there is carving, red sandalwood can vividly express the subtleties of the patterns. The thin ones pass through the branches and stems, commonly known as crossing the bridge; the thick ones are round and full, especially the yin and yang of flowers, the muscles and feathers of animals, and the red sandalwood carvings. Delicacy is unmatched by other materials.
Unfortunately, such excellent materials are rarely available. Ming and Qing red sandalwood, based on palace furniture, the common panel material width is less than 15CM, especially the long wood, wide panels are not seen, and the maximum width of the occasionally seen rosewood panels is within 30CM. As we can imagine, it is extremely difficult to carve out wide material from a hollow tree trunk. As the saying goes, "ten sandalwoods and nine empties" can explain the problem very well. In the past, a businessman reported that he found a red sandalwood square table with two panels. You don’t need to look at it, you will know something is wrong as soon as you hear it. I have seen countless red sandalwood square tables, with panels ranging from four to five panels, and as many as seven or eight panels. I have never seen two panels, so my narrow experience can sometimes be very effective.
The above is still an abstract method for judging red sandalwood. The advantage of abstraction is that you can immediately establish a nearly correct judgment on a new thing. It is easy to go astray by emphasizing the subtleties at the beginning, and follow the famous idiom: the blind man touches the elephant.
Classification of red sandalwood
I said at the beginning of the column that the names of red sandalwood are now complicated, and various "red sandalwood" names are used for show in order to attract attention and occupy the market. When red sandalwood was first used, there was no classification. Later, due to its high status and sharp increase in market demand, red sandalwood became more detailed and classified in order to adapt to market changes. But it is inevitable that there will be a mixture of fish and dragons, mud and sand.
The prefixes of the popular red sandalwood names are not recorded in historical books. Even the word of mouth among the people is only a matter of the past ten years. The small-leaf and large-leaf rosewood and the island and mainland rosewood are all the painstaking efforts of merchants.
The earliest classification of red sandalwood was passed down orally by craftsmen. For example, Venus red sandalwood is the most representative quality material for furniture. Most of the red sandalwood furniture in the Qing Dynasty was made of this material. Venus originally refers to the golden light spot that flashes in the light after the rosewood is leveled. On the dark purple wood, golden light spots often flash in strips, which is where the name Venus Rosewood comes from. However, Venus flashes are mostly from new materials or well-preserved and very clean furniture. Over time, if there is a little dirt, Venus will be difficult to see clearly. At this time, the name with the same name and synonym appeared - Niu Mao Red Sandalwood. Niu Mao refers to the brown eyes on the surface of the red sandalwood material that are as thin as ox hair, even and finely divided. These are two aspects of one thing, one emphasizing color and the other emphasizing shape. But there is a very interesting phenomenon. Most businessmen and collectors are willing to call it "Venus", while most craftsmen often call it "Niu Mao". The difference in emphasis most directly reflects the position.
If you have to find analogues to the small-leaf rosewood mentioned today, Venus (ox hair) rosewood is the closest. I thought the small leaf red sandalwood was passed down through false rumors.
Red sandalwood material is not produced in my country. In the past and today, it is all imported and shipped back by ship. There are no branches or leaves before the red sandalwood is put on the ship, only the main trunk is left. This not only facilitates transportation, but also improves the utilization rate. The branches and branches are of no use, so there is no need to get on board. No one in China has ever seen the leaves of red sandalwood, so there is no way to compare the size of the leaves. However, many years ago I heard an old craftsman say that the size of the brown eyes of red sandalwood can distinguish the quality of the material, and small eyes are better than large eyes.
The Beijing dialect is so heavily idiomed that to outsiders with small eyes, it sounds like Xiaoyeer. Outsiders take it for granted and call it Xiaoyeer red sandalwood. Over time, rumors have spread, and the myth has been passed down to this day.
When the so-called small-leaf red sandalwood was in short supply, the big-leaf red sandalwood made its appearance. In the past, old craftsmen called big-eyed red sandalwood, and some people also called it rosewood red sandalwood. This kind of red sandalwood is said to be made of rough material and has large and long brown eyes. Rosewood rosewood was a substitute for rosewood furniture during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. Its origin is unclear and its quantity is not large. Because trade was not as developed as it is today, it would be great to find such a substitute, and the big-eyed (rosewood) red sandalwood made its appearance in a hurry. This kind of red sandalwood has always been looked down upon by collectors, who regard it as fake.
The new materials we often talk about in the market today - small leaf red sandalwood and big leaf red sandalwood are not the above two categories. They are entirely the efforts of businessmen. New materials that were similar or close to red sandalwood were forcibly classified, and due to the tight market, they accepted this statement and quickly became popular. Countless times, merchants have told me swornly what happened to Xiao Ye'er and how Big Ye'er was doing, and I was deeply moved by their perseverance.
Classification of red sandalwood
Since red sandalwood is not scientifically named, its classification is difficult to achieve. All classifications of red sandalwood in history were based on visual inspection and gave an appropriate name based on the general rules of cognition of things. If the name is accepted by the society, it will spread; if it is not accepted, only a few people will enjoy it.
Except for Venus (ox hair) red sandalwood, there are mainly two types of red sandalwood, chicken blood rosewood and ox horn rosewood. Chicken-blood rosewood, also known as ox-blood rosewood, is typically characterized by clear wood grain and large areas of blood-colored spots in the purple color, which are often distributed irregularly like a hand wipe. When the wood of this kind of red sandalwood is just cut open, the blood-like distribution and color are particularly obvious, which is astounding to those who see it for the first time. The quantity of Chicken Blood Rosewood in red sandalwood is less than Venus Rosewood and more than Ox Horn Rosewood. Most of the furniture made was widely made. This may be because not many of this kind of red sandalwood landed at the Guangdong port and was shipped to the mainland. Another characteristic of chicken blood red sandalwood is that the material is larger than the other two. The panels are wider and the materials are stronger. Chicken blood red sandalwood is more common. Chicken blood red sandalwood is not as good at carving as Venus red sandalwood, so it requires more carving work. The red sandalwood furniture adopts a rough style of carving, and the red sandalwood furniture with a strong sense of carving often falls into this category. There is a slight difference between chicken blood rosewood and the other two. It feels slightly less hard, so the brightness is a little lower, which cannot be ignored.
Another one is horn rosewood. I have heard many times that the old masters of Lu Ban Guan were full of praise for this. To the naked eye, this kind of red sandalwood looks the least like red sandalwood. Its characteristics are the most difficult to grasp and are easily overlooked and missed. If it looks like red sandalwood and a bit like old mahogany, it may be horn red sandalwood. This kind of red sandalwood material is of good quality and has the highest hardness. Once polished, it shines with a dark luster. Especially after a long time, its beauty is indescribable. Horn red sandalwood, as the name suggests, means that the material is similar to the texture of horn, delicate and less brown. If you touch it with your hands, it will be smooth like baby skin. The texture of horn red sandalwood is not as obvious as that of chicken blood red sandalwood. The texture is thin and the color change is small. Once this kind of red sandalwood is coated with pulp, it really looks like horns and is very cute. Perhaps due to the above-mentioned characteristics of ox-horn rosewood, those who use this material are rarely carved, and most of them are plain. Craftsmen know this well and use their strengths to avoid weaknesses.
Comparing Venus rosewood, chicken blood rosewood and ox horn rosewood, we can see some of their patterns. Mastering these laws requires a lot of practice, and comparison is a shortcut. If these three types of rosewood are put together, it is easier to distinguish them and remember their respective characteristics.
Once you remember these characteristics, you can apply them, especially when you are helpless. You need to mobilize your memory inventory, pull out the most useful information, and turn it into a visual image in your mind. Compared with the red sandalwood in front of you, this Just like the functionality of a computer, the greater the storage capacity, the more efficient the application.
I have used two articles to explain the classification of red sandalwood, but it may still miss the mark. What I am telling readers is red sandalwood in the traditional sense, which is a good material used for furniture and other small wooden items in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It does not involve the various red sandalwoods today. The new red sandalwood used in large quantities today will be discussed in detail later. Even for red sandalwood in the traditional sense, there are some that are not good materials or have misunderstandings. For example, in the past, old craftsmen often referred to rosewood as rosewood, which refers to a kind of "red sandalwood" that only appeared in the Republic of China. This kind of substitute is often dyed and is completely used to deceive the world, which corresponds to the idiom: making up for the number. Of course, there is a more ridiculous term called "white rosewood", which is a fearless term for ignorant people. When red sandalwood loses wax over time, it will show a white metallic luster after being exposed to wind and sun. Once waxed and heated again, the white rosewood immediately regains its true form.