Huang Hua Li

Huanghuali - Dalbergia Odorifera

The Chinese term huanghuali literally means “yellow flowering pear” wood. It is a member of the rosewood family and is botanically classified as Dalbergia odorifera. In pre-modern 9mes the wood was know as huali or hualu. The modifier huang (yellowish-brown) was added in the early twen9eth century to describe old huali wood whose surfaces had mellowed to a yellowish tone due to long exposure to light. The sweet fragrance of huali dis9nguishes it from the similar appearing but pungentodored hongmu. The world is divided into those people who have lived and died and never smelled the fragrance of Dalbergia odorifera and those who have. The fragrance is fugi9ve and cannot be detected on wood that has been exposed to the air for a while but when freshly cut, the fragrance of roses is sweet and intoxica9ng. If the aroma had a color it would be pink.

The best comes from Hainan island in China but it is also found growing naturally in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong. It has been appreciated in China especially for furniture, since the Ming dynasty but interna9onal interest in it has exploded recently possibly due to men9ons on the An9ques Roadshow.

Because living trees are now rare and protected, the hunt is on for an9que pieces which are sold in the major auc9on houses for big money. Brushpots (bitong) from China can be found on ebay boas9ng signature ‘ghost eyes’, (spookey faces from burls), but whether this is genuine huanghauli seems doubvul. Other species produce burl features looking like ‘The Scream’ by Edvard Munch so their presence isn’t defini9ve for Huanghuali.

The wood is admired by connoiseurs (including me) for the lovely streaky effects typically associated with members of the Dalbergia family. It doesn’t have much shimmer. It relies on the drama of the figuring caused by adjacent layers of contras9ng color. It also requires no varnish as it polishes to a high lustre. Boxes are interes9ng because the insides protected from the light, tend to display a pink color whereas the exterior fades to golden brown. I have a small Chinese table which only revealed itself to have a top panel of huanghuali when I cleaned it by sanding and no9ced that the drab brown turned to reddish pink as fresh surface was exposed. It’s value either immediately increased because elm suddenly transformed to Huali or decreased because I commiOed the sin of removing the natural pa9na.

Today, Chinese craIsmen s9ll have a reasonable supply of huanghauli though not necessarily Dalbergia odifera or of the quality available to Ming workers. They also have unfortunate access to a waxy black stain which they or their distributors use to simulate age. These pieces are showing up in western auc9on houses and online auc9ons with dubious claims of age or authen9city. In consequence, it is possible to find nice pieces which greatly reward the careful removal of the black coa9ng. Underneath, some spectacular wood can be found. To a European accustomed to the use of ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ woods in furniture, it comes as a surprise to find some of these pieces in huanghuali constructed of the solid wood, even drawer sides and boOoms are solid dalbergia which greatly adds to the weight and interest of the piece.

Endgrain figure seen on fresh cross section of Dalbergia Odifera

Spookey eyes as seen on tangential cut close to a branch.