About the color of rosewood
Cui Bao in the Western Jin Dynasty recorded in Notes on Ancient and Modern Times: Red sandalwood was purple when it came out of Funan, also known as red sandalwood. The ancient people's conclusion about the color of rosewood here is a description of the characteristics of rosewood products after being stored for several years.
From this simple description of rosewood, the color of rosewood is purple, which is also the intuitive impression that rosewood presents to everyone. Purple has always been regarded as a noble color. Purple was very noble to the ancients, and the view on purple continued until the Qing Dynasty.
Its aristocratic status began in the Warring States Period when Han Fei told foreign reserves to stay in the world, which recorded that "Qi Huangong is good at purple, and all countries are purple". In ancient times, purple was known as red purple, not purple purple (that is, purple purple). In many dynasties, purple was also used as a higher-level color. Until the Qing Dynasty, purple was the highest, second only to the emperor's yellow. Purple in red sandalwood is noble but not flashy, which is a deep, introverted and quiet beauty, but in fact, the color of red sandalwood is not static.
Color classification
According to the introduction in the wooden slips, there are four kinds of surface colors of rosewood:
A, light red (scarlet): This kind of rosewood has slightly lighter specific gravity, poor oily texture, dry hair and light color. It is a poor kind of rosewood, and there are few Venus.
B, deep purple: dense texture, heavy specific gravity, strong oiliness, hard texture, and dense gold thread of Venus.
C, purple-black: This kind of red sandalwood has a black surface and obvious brightness, which is as moist as rhinoceros horn. This kind of wood is very rare and is the top grade of red sandalwood.
D. Purple yellow: This kind of rosewood is generally introduced artificially (introduced from India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar), with large diameter and few holes, and its specific gravity is close to 1. From the appearance, it is no different from ordinary rosewood, but from the end face, the purple circle is connected with the yellow circle, and the color difference is obvious.