Zi Tan

ZITAN (Tzu-t’an)

I remember the opportunity I had to examine carefully a screen in the house occupied by Puyi, the last Chinese emperor. The western style house in Tianjin is now a museum and displays many of the emperor’s possessions (including golf clubs!). The screen is of solid, black wood with a slight purplish cast. It is finely carved with hundreds of Chinese characters in high relief. Only the most skilled craIsmen would be allowed near to such a piece of wood and their excep9onal talent is displayed well owing to the grainless quality of the wood. Numerous searches for genuine pieces in the an9que shops of Beijing and Shanghai have resulted in few small carvings and brushpots with a price tag in thousands of dollars.

In Chinese documents going back 1,000 years, zitan is refered to in revered terms as the pre-eminent wood for furniture. It is now agreed by most experts that the wood referred to comes from a tree which is a member of the rosewood family with scien9fic name Pterocarpus santalinus also known as Red Sandalwood. There is no commonality between this wood and the fragrant white sandalwood (Santalum Alba) except that both are indigenous to India from where zitan was historically imported.

The term ‘zitan’ has become very popular recently. If anyone selling a Chinese ar9fact of dark, almost black, wood there is a strong tempta9on to describe it a ‘zitan’ in the expecta9on of a premium price. The truth is that it’s not easy even for the prac9ced eye to iden9fy Pterocarpus santalinus. The rosewood unique to the island of Madagascar, Dalbergia Mari9ma, is very similar. OIen given the French name of Bois de Rose, it could be mistaken for ebony except that it has a more reddish hue and is slightly streaky. I have a set of violin tuning pegs made from it because the wood turns beau9fully and takes a high natural polish. There is no doubt that it is an exo9c hardwood in its own right but I have no evidence it has made its way to China for working over there. In any case, the grain structure is straighter than zitan which has a more interlocking appearance on careful examina9on.

Scholar’s Box and stand with Paktong metal fiPngs in ruyi form (Ming Dynasty)

(Author’s collection)

Pierced box with huangtong fittings & MOP inlay, Chinese or Vietnamese.

(Author’s Collection)

Antique stand of zitan finely carved with insects and scrolling plants.

(Author’s Collection)