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Subject:Re: Kindly help to identify , these made by Hongmu, Jichimu or Huanghuali?
Posted By: Kirkwood Paterson Thu, Sep 06, 2012
First of all let's get this straight..
In my opinion,
Unusual timber to be used in China of this period.
has many names, hongmu not one of them.
maccasar ebony; coromandel; marblewood; verigated ebony; etc.. Dyosporos genera. A number of Asian persimmon specie trees produce this wood. Difficult with any certainty to say which of the variety it is, but seems unlikely to be anything else. More common in Japanese furniture than in Chinese. The greater number of commercial coromandel species exploited to extinction approx 200 yrs back. They didn't call it the Coromandel coast for nothing. Some still available:
http://www.woodmart.co.kr/shop_cgi/shop04/read.cgi?board=shop2_1&y_number=28
The other, I would think Pterocarpus soyauxii, or African zitan if you like.. A bit of a perversion of the term Zitan, and strictly speaking should be referred to as Hongmu, as is an imported generic, and implication of the term Zitan imperial Chinese. still marketed as African zitan despite this. commonly used as a timber of choice for Chinese urhus, as has very similar tonal characteristics. remarkably similar to zitan in many ways, even in it's shimmering grain structure in certain areas, although less pronounced, but is more difficult to work; and requires staining to produce red sandalwood effect. lacks purple hue to the tannin.
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