China Red Sandalwood Museum

The treasure of red sandalwood Art

China red sandalwood Museum, Beijing

synonym

China red sandalwood Museum generally refers to China red sandalwood Museum in Beijing

China red sandalwood museum is the largest red sandalwood carving art museum in China invested 200 million yuan by Ms. Chen Lihua, member of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference. It opened in September 1999 and is a key project of Beijing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the people's Republic of China. China red sandalwood museum is located at 23 Jianguo Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, north of Gaobeidian, Jingtong expressway. It is an imitation of Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a main building area of 9569 square meters.

The building has four floors above the ground, one to three floors for exhibition hall, four floors for VIP room and multi-function exhibition hall. The whole building presents a strong national traditional style. The main entrance of the museum is pure wood structure, using more than 400 cubic meters of wood. The main building uses the technology of grinding bricks and joints. The square in front of the museum is paved with big green bricks and soaked with tung oil. This method was only used by the royal family in the past, which is called Haiman Bucket board floor. During the construction of the museum, experts on wood, tile and painting were invited to work in the Palace Museum at the beginning of the founding of the people's Republic of China. It can be said that the museum itself is a magnificent and precious handicraft, which is called "living national treasure" in the circle.

China red sandalwood museum is the first private (private) Museum with the largest scale in China. It collects, studies, displays and displays red sandalwood art, and appreciates traditional Chinese classical furniture. It fills a gap in the field of Chinese museums. The museum also displays traditional furniture materials, shapes, structures and carving techniques, so that visitors can clearly understand the manufacturing process of traditional Chinese furniture and appreciate its exquisite craftsmanship.

Basic introduction

Red sandalwood is one of the best furniture materials in China. In the third century AD, Cui Baozhen of Jin Dynasty listed it as precious wood in gujinzhu. In geguyaolun written by Wang Zuo of Ming Dynasty, red sandalwood was regarded as "exotic wood". In China, red sandalwood utensils were highly praised in all previous dynasties, and they were always valued and ranked first among the wood.

China red sandalwood museum displays nearly 1000 pieces of various kinds of red sandalwood products, including Ming and Qing furniture that Ms. Chen Lihua has accumulated for decades, and traditional furniture products that Ms. Chen Lihua has carefully directed for nearly 30 years, most of which are based on the original products of the Forbidden City. In addition to the theme exhibition of the Forbidden City, there are also miniature landscapes of Chinese ancient buildings mainly imitated by domestic famous buildings, such as Beijing siheyuan, Shanxi feiyunlou, Wutaishan Longquan Temple archway, etc.

The museum also displays traditional furniture materials, shapes, structures and carving techniques, so that visitors can clearly understand the manufacturing process of traditional Chinese furniture and appreciate its exquisite craftsmanship.

In November 2019, the list of national intangible cultural heritage representative project protection units was announced, and China red sandalwood Museum obtained the qualification of wood carving (red sandalwood carving) project protection unit.

Overview of the library

The Chinese red sandalwood museum is a perfect work of art in terms of its architecture. The overall design of this 25000 square meter museum is magnificent and exquisite, with antique and modern flavor. The main gate alone uses more than 400 cubic meters of wood, and all of them are pure wood structures. The four pillars supporting the gate are 8 meters high and 0.6 meters thick. No matter in scale or material, they are rare in antique buildings in Beijing. The main building of its five floors uses the technology of grinding brick to joint, which is not bad in mm. More than 1000 square meters of square in front of the museum, using only the Royal use of the sea diffuse bucket board floor - big green brick after laying, and then soaked with tung oil. At the beginning of the founding of the people's Republic of China, several old experts invited to guide the whole project were engaged in the work of wood, tile and painting in the Palace Museum. They were known as "living national treasures" in the industry.

The exhibition hall of China red sandalwood Museum covers an area of 9569 square meters. There are exhibition hall, propaganda and Education Hall, multi-functional conference hall, VIP reception room, temporary exhibition hall, tourist service center, souvenir shop, open film and television hall, health room, tourist message office, etc. According to the exhibition contents, the exhibition hall is divided into main hall display, study display, bedroom display, wedding room display, Buddha Hall display and other different hall patterns; according to the different materials of the collection, there are red sandalwood furniture exhibition hall, huanghuali furniture exhibition hall, ebony furniture exhibition hall and jinsinan furniture exhibition hall; the total collection on display in the museum is nearly 1000 pieces, including more than 10 pieces of Ming and Qing Dynasties Furniture In addition, there are a series of miniature ancient architectural models that can be used as copies of ancient buildings: the turret of the Forbidden City, the Qianqiu Pavilion and Wanchun Pavilion in the imperial garden of the Forbidden City, the Longquan Temple archway in Wutai Mountain, Shanxi Province, the Feiyun tower in Wanrong County, Shanxi Province, and the antique Beijing siheyuan, all of which are handmade with red sandalwood according to the original structure, so that visitors can have a better life In addition, the exhibition of logs, modeling, structure and carving technology of traditional furniture is specially displayed. In particular, it is worth mentioning that the red sandalwood carving "Qingming Riverside" large screen group carving, with red sandalwood as brocade, carving as a substitute, and painting with knife, reproduces the original appearance of the most famous silk painting in ancient China. It can be said that it is a great creation in the history of ancient painting copying, and is known as "Oriental art treasure" in the world.

In January 2004, China red sandalwood museum was rated as a 4A tourist attraction by the National Tourism Administration. It is the first time for private museums to enter the tourism industry, and has become an important place for opening up and cultural exchanges in Beijing.

Since its opening, the Chinese red sandalwood Museum has received visitors and politicians from all over the world, including former German Prime Minister Helmut Kohl, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, her Royal Highness Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand, then Prime Minister ngarase and his wife of Fiji, then Vice Prime Minister Rustam Azimov of Uzbekistan, and former president Masire of bozwana. During the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, we also received important distinguished guests, including Mr. Craven, President of the International Paralympic Games, and Mr. Boris Johnson, mayor of London, the host city of the 30th summer Olympic Games in 2012. All of them gave the museum high evaluation and appreciation.

In order to better spread the red sandalwood culture, curator Chen Lihua has carried the red sandalwood treasures to overseas exhibitions for many times. In 1998 and 2000, he participated in the "Chinese culture exhibition" and "Chinese royal cultural relics exhibition" held in Seoul, South Korea with the Chinese Ministry of culture. In 2005, he participated in the World Expo held in Aichi, Japan with the China Council for the promotion of international trade. He undertook the exhibition work of "red sandalwood studio" in the VIP Hall of China Pavilion, and won the honor of "red sandalwood studio" In the same year, the "secrets of red sandalwood" Chinese traditional furniture exhibition was held in Washington and Atlanta, respectively, which was well received locally. In 2009, together with the foundation for Cross Strait Peace and development, the "secrets of red sandalwood special exhibition of the collection of Chinese red sandalwood Museum" was held in Taipei 101 building. It is the first largest exhibition abroad since the establishment of the museum. It not only increases Taiwan people's understanding of red sandalwood culture, but also builds a cultural bridge for cross strait exchanges. China red sandalwood Museum introduces China and sandalwood carving art to the world in another way while it is on a world tour. During the two years from 2005 to 2007, China red sandalwood Museum donated large red sandalwood models to five major museums in the world, including the National Palace Museum of China, Kyushu National Museum of Japan, Dresden National Museum of art in Germany, Smithsonian Institute of natural history in the United States, and shampooburg in France, for permanent collection. This move not only spread Chinese traditional red sandalwood culture to the world, but also opened a "journey of Chinese red sandalwood culture" to promote cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. As Mr. Zhou Wenzhong, Chinese ambassador to the United States, said, the red sandalwood cultural journey transcends its own value and builds a bridge between China and the world.

"Inheritance, development and innovation" is the tenet of China red sandalwood Museum for many years. Protecting historical heritage, carrying forward Chinese traditional culture, displaying red sandalwood artistic charm in an all-round and high-level way, inheriting sandalwood carving skills, and reappearing the glory of Chinese traditional red sandalwood culture are still the direction of our future efforts.

Appreciation of furniture in Ming and Qing Dynasties

Ming Dynasty furniture

Ming Dynasty furniture was developed on the basis of song and Yuan Dynasty furniture, and formed the most representative national style "Ming style". There are three main producing areas of Ming style furniture: Imperial supervisor of Beijing Royal family, Suzhou and Guangzhou as folk production centers. There are many kinds of Ming style furniture. There are mainly benches and chairs, several cases, cupboards, beds, platforms and so on. In addition, there are screen, screen, floor screen and so on. Ming style furniture mostly uses hardwood such as Huali, red sandalwood, jiwinged wood and iron pear, and also uses nanmu, camphor, walnut, elm and other hardwood, among which huanghuali is the best. These hardwoods are soft in color, clear in texture, hard and elastic. This kind of material has a great influence on the structure and artistic effect of furniture. Due to the elasticity of hard wood surface, and hardwood is a relatively precious wood, so the cross-section of furniture is very small. To this end, the shape also appears linear concise, straight and light. Because of the beautiful color and texture of the wood itself, Ming style furniture rarely uses lacquer. Just rubbing transparent wax can fully show the texture and natural beauty of the wood itself. Material selection is one of the important parts of design idea.

Ming style furniture production process is fine and reasonable, all with precision and ingenious mortise and tenon joint parts, large flat is embedded in the frame groove by the method of edge saving

Chinese PinYin : Zhong Guo Zi Tan Bo Wu Guan