With the introduction of a new line of furniture, the Palace Museum has made it easier than ever to replicate life in the Forbidden City. The museum has unveiled a new collection of wooden furniture based on traditional furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The first line offers 26 pieces in total, including carved armchairs and a traditional arhat bed, all made from rosewood. The arhat bed is 2 meters long and 1 meter tall. It is also decorated with dragon carvings.
It took more than seven months and 260 artists to finish one set of furniture, explained Hua Ziyi, president of the Baoding-based furniture manufacturer. The company is authorized to manufacture wooden furniture based on the designs of pieces in the Forbidden City, China News Service reported.
Li Xiaocheng, deputy curator of the Palace Museum, noted that most of the furniture on exhibit in the museum is from the Qing Dynasty, and some is from the Ming Dynasty. The new furniture line is the museum's latest series of sideline products. As of December 2016, the Palace Museum had released for sale a total of 9,169 sideline products.
As China's largest museum, the Palace Museum in recent years has attracted increasing attention from younger generations especially, as it opened an online shop on Taobao selling creative and appealing products. Some pen-holders and phone-holders feature emperors, princesses and generals, while bags and clothing are ornamented with decorations from the Forbidden City.
The shop soared to popularity in 2014 when it unveiled earphone in the shape of chaozhu, or court beads - a string of beads worn by officials during the Qing Dynasty.
The museum's online shop has recorded sales of over 100,000 RMB per day, and the total revenue in 2015 topped 1 billion RMB, according to Shan Jixiang, the Palace's Museum curator, at a press conference last May.
