A blog of Chinese art, culture and design

 

 

 

 

         

                              My bed concealed by a folding screen, bamboo desk aslant,

                          I lie and watch the year’s new swallows arrive at my humble home.

 

                                                Kao Ch’I (Ming Dynasty), Lying at Leisure During Rain

 

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Chinese beds were not only used for sleeping at night but also for sitting and chatting with friends and family, drinking tea, smoking opium, and playing games of Go. Significant pieces of furniture, they were passed down through generations of families.

 

Beds figure prominently in classical Chinese poetry, stories, and paintings. In addition to their erotic importance, they were the place of opium dreams, where oracles visited the souls of sleeping bodies. Shen Ji-ji—a storyteller from the early Tang Dynasty—wrote the famous tale of the World in a Pillow, in which a man dreams an entire lifetime in the span of an afternoon nap. The story attests to the bed’s significance as a place for both dreams and waking life.

 

Chamber beds are the most elaborate examples, composed of a raised platform and a wooden awning that encloses the sleeping area. Constructed from hundreds of pieces carved into interlocking joints, chamber beds could be closed with curtains or lattice panels, providing a private space to sleep, talk, conceive, and bear children. The intimate quarters of a chamber bed witnessed the entire cycle of life, from birth to death.

 

For women, in particular, beds were symbols of their status within the household. Included as part of a woman’s dowry, an antique Chinese canopy bed is often referred to as a “wedding bed.” It was one of the few items that remained in a woman’s possession throughout her life, even if her marriage ended in divorce. 

 

Daybeds and couch-beds are simpler, used in men’s bedrooms and sitting areas. Ming writer Wen Zhenheng advocated a spare aesthetic for a man’s bedroom when he argued that “even the slightest touch of stylish adornment would make it look like the women’s quarters.” The design of masculine couch-beds and daybeds ranged from spare wooden platforms to more intricately carved pieces with latticed armrests and backs.

 

 Today, the Chinese bed is a unique example of antique furniture that remains a multi-functional object. Chamber are particularly beautiful in lofts or large rooms, where they establish an intimate area for sleeping or sitting. The raised platform also creates a small riser where you can leave your shoes and step into a private space. Daybeds and couch-beds are as versatile as they once were, often used in contemporary homes as a sofa or divan. These antique beds have witnessed many lifetimes, and will continue to see many more, enduring as objects of beauty and utility.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 10:38 PM and is filed under Chinese Furniture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.