Chinese

The Chinese interior is built around a fixed frame: a central hall for receiving, side rooms for living, and furniture placed with an almost architectural symmetry. A chair is not moved for comfort — it holds a position, and its position says who sits in it. The one room arranged around objects rather than people is the scholar's studio, where a rock, a brush and a vase are set in deliberate relation to each other.

Furniture divides cleanly. Ming (1368–1644) is structural: huanghuali and zitan, joinery carrying the design, almost no applied ornament. Qing (1644–1912) is heavier, more carved and far more of it survives, which is why so much Qing work is sold as Ming. The Republic period (1912–1949) continues the forms with later hands.

Porcelain divides differently. Song and Yuan wares sit at the top of the tradition; Ming blue-and-white is its mainstream; Qing adds colour and imperial marks. Export porcelain, made for Europe from the sixteenth century onward, is a separate line with its own shapes and its own market.