Refrigerator has brought great benefits to people’s living life , especially in the scorching summer it is more indispensable. Actually as early as Ming Dynasty , it has become an important summer equipment, and was widely used by the the royal nobles in the capital Beijing. Of course that was not a refrigerator, but a box cooled by natural ice.
At that time, the refrigerator was also called “ice bucket”, made of yellow pear wood or mahogany. The square-shaped box looks exquisite with large mouth and small bottom and two copper hoops on the waist. Copper rings are placed on both sides of the box for handling convenience, four legs under the mud tray(in the Ming and Qing Dynasties furniture, some legs and feet do not directly touch the ground, and another cross wood or wooden frame under the support, this wooden frame is called “mud tray”) to keep away moisture.
The refrigerator is not only beautiful, but also the function design is so sophisticated with science. Inner part of the box is made of tin that can protect the wooden box from eroding and in the bottom of the box,there are holes for ice water seeping through in the bottom. In addition, as the ice melts, it absorbs hot air from the room, it works like our current air conditioner.
Of all the remaining refrigerators, there are only two left in the Palace Museum in Beijing which were donated by Ms. Lu Yi in 1985. This pair of wooden enamelled refrigerators are wire – woven, each box is 102kg in heavy, 45cm in height.Cover surface and box body are full decorated with wrapped branches flowers with exquisite workmanship and gorgeous colors., the mouth along the decorative grain, cover along
The outside has “Made for the Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong” It is really the treasure of refrigerator craft.
in the capital Beijing. Of course that was not a refrigerator, but a box cooled by natural ice.
At that time, the refrigerator was also called “ice bucket”, made of yellow pear wood or mahogany. The square-shaped box looks exquisite with large mouth and small bottom and two copper hoops on the waist. Copper rings are placed on both sides of the box for handling convenience, four legs under the mud tray(in the Ming and Qing Dynasties furniture, some legs and feet do not directly touch the ground, and another cross wood or wooden frame under the support, this wooden frame is called “mud tray”) to keep away moisture.
The refrigerator is not only beautiful, but also the function design is so sophisticated with science. Inner part of the box is made of tin that can protect the wooden box from eroding and in the bottom of the box,there are holes for ice water seeping through in the bottom. In addition, as the ice melts, it absorbs hot air from the room, it works like our current air conditioner.
Of all the remaining refrigerators, there are only two left in the Palace Museum in Beijing which were donated by Ms. Lu Yi in 1985. This pair of wooden enamelled refrigerators are wire – woven, each box is 102kg in heavy, 45cm in height.Cover surface and box body are full decorated with wrapped branches flowers with exquisite workmanship and gorgeous colors., the mouth along the decorative grain, cover along
The outside has “Made for the Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong” It is really the treasure of refrigerator craft.
In fact, the above mentioned wooden refrigerator is not the earliest one in China. The first refrigerators are believed to be bronze ware from the Spring and Autumn Period, called utensils containing ice,i.e.” Bingjian’ in Chinese.
In 1978, two sets of large-scale ice wine sets — Bronze Jian Fou, also known as “Bingjian”, with the same shape and decoration, these two Bingjian were unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in Suizhou, Hubei Province, and are now separately stored in Hubei Provincial Museum and National Museum of China. So far, this is seen the most exquisite ice wine utensils with the largest and the most complete form pre-qin period. This bronze Jian Fou was acknowledged the oldest “refrigerator” in China. “Ice Kam” is a container used to hold ice and put food in it on hot days.
