1 minute read
Nanmu
nanmu Phoebe zhennan
This wood is na9ve to China where it occurs in Guizhou, Hubei and Sichuan provinces It is under second-class na9onal protec9on in China owing to threatening loss of habitat. In the past, wood from this tree, referred to as nanmu in China was so valuable that only royal families could afford their use. The trees that produce nanmu wood are tall and straight so whole logs of Phoebe zhennan wood were used to create pillars for the Forbidden city.
Advertisement
The pillars, so familiar to visitors owing to their painted red color, were harvested in the thousands (300,000 logs according to some reports) for the construc9on of the iconic building complex. The Taihe Hall alone used 72 precious Phoebe nanmu 9mbers that were one meter in diameter and painted red. According to incomplete sta9s9cs, the Forbidden City’s various halls used nearly 35,000 great wooden pillars of nanmu.
In the Ming dynasty, Nanmu was described as a durable soIwood. It seems that the term covers a family of woods ranging in quality from splendid to inferior. Of most interest to connoisseurs is zhennan nanmu which can be polished to a shimmering surface and has fine smooth texture. Shimmering characteris9cs also qualify that which is termed 'jinsi' (golden-thread) nanmu. It has a brilliant golden shimmer also referred to as golden silk wood.
In 2019, I was fortunate enough to acquire a small tea tray in one of the specialty wood shops in Chengdu. It is made of a recently discovered log of nanmu that had been submerged in water for several thousand years. This natural process converted it to wumu and it was described as such when I bought it. This natural treatment has imparted a more chocolatey tone to the wood which s9ll takes a fine polish, without varnish, and shimmers under strong light. The carved lotus flower is dull because it is unpolished and shows evidence of some boring insects in the stem. It was not cheap!!
Golden thread Nanmu
Nanmu darkened by submersion for 3000 years (Wumu)
(Author’s Collection)
Columns of Nanmu in the Imperial Palace, Beijing
