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My Chinese Bed
New, by request! How to assemble an antique two-room Chinese wedding bed.
I have a beautiful antique Chinese bed. Simply put- it's outrageous, and that's just what I wanted. This is the story of how it came to be mine. When I finally started to settle down in 2000 I began purchasing real furniture. Everything I bought I intend to keep permanently. If I couldn't find what I wanted I had it custom made, such as a beautiful James Taylor writing desk. I wanted an exotic canopy bed and I asked around to see the most unusual items. I was unable to find anything even close to what I had in mind. Everything seemed so generic and mass-produced.
I spent endless hours searching the Internet and found some antique Chinese beds that piqued my interest. Basically, they were elaborate old canopy beds with nice carving and scrollwork. I struck up a relationship with a Chinese furniture importer who showed me pictures of specific pieces he had in stock or could import. I kept pestering him for more elaborate examples and he showed me more pictures. I ultimately settled on a nice bed, but I expressed that I would really prefer to find something more exotic. He opened up a bit and said he could get something he thought I might be interested in, but that it would require a healthy deposit and a few months time. He showed me pictures of a two-room wedding bed from perhaps the mid 17th century. Finally, something interesting! I asked him to find me the largest, most elaborate bed possible on his next buying trip to China. Several months went by with only sporadic e-mail contact between us.
The call came unexpectedly and the good news was that my bed had finally arrived Stateside. We arranged for a couple of his guys to drive the bed to me in a truck, haul it up into my apartment and assemble it in place. A bed like this consists of around 100 discrete pieces that fit together without fasteners. Everything locks together in a deceptively simply arrangement that would have been difficult to figure out on my own.
When the bed was finally assembled and towering over my apartment, I was in a state of shock. It was an absolute show stopper! I honestly began to wonder if I had finally gone too far. A lot of people use the phrase "Museum Piece" when they see this bed, and with good reason. Other people have the mistaken impression that I must be a kinky bastard and this is my deviant workbench. But honestly I just think certain things are cool. Hunting down and importing something like this shows the power of persistence coupled with an un-willingness to settle for anything less than the extraordinary. And I'll tell you this- I sleep like a baby in there. It's cool, dark, quiet and comfortable.
It's impossible to know the exact age, but this bed was originally built maybe 300 years ago, probably for a wealthy merchant. A beautiful inscription that translates into "Orchids are fragrant, Osthmanthus is sweet" hangs over the sleeping chamber. The bed still has the vague smell of camphor wood, of which certain parts are carved. The carvings, painting, gold leaf and detail is simply phenomenal. There are many panels that depict scenes of life in a Chinese village and also carvings of figures from Chinese mythology. There are embedded colored-glass bullseyes, mother-of-pearl inlays, sliding panels and so much more. It's one of those pieces where the closer you look, the more detail you notice. It's endlessly enchanting. And yes- there are several secret compartments built into the structure, but I'll never tell where.
PS: Hey, I get a lot of e-mail from people asking if I can help them find a similar piece or point them to the original importer. I enjoy all your mail and I will respond, but there's a good chance that I won't be able to help you. If you'd like a bed like this for yourself, I'd advise you to do what I did and get in there and do what turned out to be months of research and planning.
I have a beautiful antique Chinese bed. Simply put- it's outrageous, and that's just what I wanted. This is the story of how it came to be mine. When I finally started to settle down in 2000 I began purchasing real furniture. Everything I bought I intend to keep permanently. If I couldn't find what I wanted I had it custom made, such as a beautiful James Taylor writing desk. I wanted an exotic canopy bed and I asked around to see the most unusual items. I was unable to find anything even close to what I had in mind. Everything seemed so generic and mass-produced.I spent endless hours searching the Internet and found some antique Chinese beds that piqued my interest. Basically, they were elaborate old canopy beds with nice carving and scrollwork. I struck up a relationship with a Chinese furniture importer who showed me pictures of specific pieces he had in stock or could import. I kept pestering him for more elaborate examples and he showed me more pictures. I ultimately settled on a nice bed, but I expressed that I would really prefer to find something more exotic. He opened up a bit and said he could get something he thought I might be interested in, but that it would require a healthy deposit and a few months time. He showed me pictures of a two-room wedding bed from perhaps the mid 17th century. Finally, something interesting! I asked him to find me the largest, most elaborate bed possible on his next buying trip to China. Several months went by with only sporadic e-mail contact between us.
The call came unexpectedly and the good news was that my bed had finally arrived Stateside. We arranged for a couple of his guys to drive the bed to me in a truck, haul it up into my apartment and assemble it in place. A bed like this consists of around 100 discrete pieces that fit together without fasteners. Everything locks together in a deceptively simply arrangement that would have been difficult to figure out on my own.When the bed was finally assembled and towering over my apartment, I was in a state of shock. It was an absolute show stopper! I honestly began to wonder if I had finally gone too far. A lot of people use the phrase "Museum Piece" when they see this bed, and with good reason. Other people have the mistaken impression that I must be a kinky bastard and this is my deviant workbench. But honestly I just think certain things are cool. Hunting down and importing something like this shows the power of persistence coupled with an un-willingness to settle for anything less than the extraordinary. And I'll tell you this- I sleep like a baby in there. It's cool, dark, quiet and comfortable.
It's impossible to know the exact age, but this bed was originally built maybe 300 years ago, probably for a wealthy merchant. A beautiful inscription that translates into "Orchids are fragrant, Osthmanthus is sweet" hangs over the sleeping chamber. The bed still has the vague smell of camphor wood, of which certain parts are carved. The carvings, painting, gold leaf and detail is simply phenomenal. There are many panels that depict scenes of life in a Chinese village and also carvings of figures from Chinese mythology. There are embedded colored-glass bullseyes, mother-of-pearl inlays, sliding panels and so much more. It's one of those pieces where the closer you look, the more detail you notice. It's endlessly enchanting. And yes- there are several secret compartments built into the structure, but I'll never tell where. PS: Hey, I get a lot of e-mail from people asking if I can help them find a similar piece or point them to the original importer. I enjoy all your mail and I will respond, but there's a good chance that I won't be able to help you. If you'd like a bed like this for yourself, I'd advise you to do what I did and get in there and do what turned out to be months of research and planning.
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Two different style panels from the front of the bed
The left panel features applique The right panel scrollwork is carved through cleanly |
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The old wise-man watches from underneath his jade tree
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Dancers above
And Koi fish below |
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The squirrels stretch to peer down at you
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An elegant garden scene
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A phoenix watches over the entrance
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River, islands, pagodas and more
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