Yunnan University

School of Architecture and Planning.

Dept. of Civil Engineering.
Chinese Arts & Crafts Appreciation.

MD JAHIDUL ISLAM
St. ID 20183290356
 Lacquerware
Lacquerware are protests beautifully covered with lacquer. Lacquerware incorporates little or
huge holders, flatware, an assortment of little items conveyed by individuals, and bigger
articles, for example, furniture and even final resting places painted with polish. Prior to
lacquering, the surface is once in a while painted with pictures, trimmed with shell and
different materials, or cut. The veneer can be tidied with gold or silver and given further
enlivening medicines.

East Asian nations have long practices of lacquer work, returning a few thousand years in the
instances of China, Japan and Korea. The most popular polish, a urushiol-based finish normal
in East Asia, is gotten from the dried sap of Toxicodendron verticillium. Different sorts of
veneers are handled from an assortment of plants and bugs. The customs of enamel work in
Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Americas are likewise antiquated and begun autonomously.
Genuine polish isn't made external Asia, yet a few impersonations, like Japanning in Europe, or
equal methods, are frequently approximately alluded to a "lacquer."

Chinese lacquerware

During the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600–1046 BC)

of China, sophisticated lacquer process
techniques developed became a highly artistic
craft. During the Eastern Zhou period (771–
256 BC), lacquerware began appearing in
large quantity. This is the earliest era from
which notable quantities of lacquerware have
survived.
At the time of the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220
AD), special administrations were established
to organize and divide labor for the expanding
lacquer production in China. Elaborate incised
decorations were used in lacquerware during
the Han dynasty.
Diaoqi or carved lacquer dish with dragon amid clouds,
China, Ming dynasty, Wanli era (1573–1620)
In the Tang dynasty (618–907), Chinese lacquerware saw a new style marked by the use of
sheets of gold or silver made in various shapes, such as birds, animals, and flowers. The cut-
outs were affixed onto the surface of the lacquerware, after which new layers of lacquer were
applied, dried, and then ground away, so the surface could be polished to reveal the golden or
silvery patterns beneath. This was done by a technique known as pingtuo. Such techniques
were time-consuming and costly, but these lacquerwares were considered highly refined. It
was also the period when the earliest practice of carving lacquerware began.
The art of inlaid gold, silver, and mother-of-
pearl continued from the Tang into the Song
dynasty (960–1279). Several existing
decorative techniques gradually developed
further after the 10th century, such as diaoqi
(carved lacquer) which involves building up
layers comprising thinly-applied coats of
lacquer and carving it into a three-
dimensional design; qiangjin (engraved gold)
in which fine lines are incised, an adhesive of
lacquer is applied, and gold foil or powder is
pressed into the grooves; and diaotian or
tianqi (filled-in) in which the lacquer is inlaid
with lacquer of another color. A variation of
Song dynasty lacquer tray with the gold-engraving

technique qiangjin applied to it, 12th or 13th century

diaotian or tianqi is known as moxian (polish-reveal) in which a design is built up with lacquer
in certain areas, the remaining areas are filled with lacquer of a different color, and the entire
surface is polished down. Especially the art of inlaying lacquer with mother-of-pearl was
intensively developed during the Song dynasty. However, during the Song, the artistic craft also
made use of inlaid gold in a process of which is to engrave intricate patterns in the lacquer
surface and to fill the intaglio with gold powder.
The knowledge of the Chinese methods of the lacquer process spread from China during the
Han, Tang and Song dynasties, eventually it was introduced to Korea, Japan. In Japan, the art
of lacquerware-making came along with Buddhism and other cultural artifacts from China via
the Korean Peninsula during the 8th century, and carved lacquerware came to Japan from Ming
dynasty China during the 14th century. One of the earliest Japanese techniques for decorating
the lacquer surface was, besides painting simple designs, the gold and silver foil inlay of the
Nara period (710–784). This technique was transmitted from China during the Tang dynasty.

Carved lacquer
Carved lacquer or Qidiao (Chinese: 漆 雕 ) is a distinctive Chinese form of decorated
lacquerware. While lacquer has been used in China for at least 3,000 years, the technique of
carving into very thick coatings of it appears to have been developed in the 12th century CE. It
is extremely time-consuming to produce, and has always been a luxury product, essentially
restricted to China, though imitated in Japanese lacquer in somewhat different styles. The
producing process is called Diaoqi (雕漆, carving lacquer).

Though most surviving examples are from the Ming and Qing dynasties, the main types of
subject matter for the carvings were all begun under the Song dynasty, and the development
of both these and the technique of carving were essentially over by the early Ming. These types
were the abstract guri or Sword-Pommel pattern, figures in a landscape, and birds and plants.
To these some designs with religious symbols, animals, auspicious characters (right) and
imperial dragons can be added.

Song dynasty, and the main types of subject matter

The style of carving into thick lacquer used later is first seen in the Southern Song (1127–1279),
following the development of techniques for making very thick lacquer. There is some evidence
from literary sources that it had existed in the late Tang. At first the style of decoration used is
known as guri (屈輪) from the Japanese word for the ring-pommel of a sword, where the same
motifs were used in metal, and is often called the "Sword-Pommel pattern" in English. This
style uses a family of repeated two-branched scrolling shapes cut with a rounded profile at the
surface, but below that a "V" section through layers of lacquer in different colors (black, red
and yellow, and later green), giving a "marbled" effect from the contrasted colors; this
technique is called tìxī (剔犀) in Chinese. This style continued to be used up to the Ming dynasty,
especially on small boxes and jars with covers, though after the Song only red was often used,
and the motifs were often carved with wider flat spaces at the bottom level to be exposed.

Foliated dish or tray in the tixi technique with the guri or "Sword-Pommel Pattern", here using red with
three thin layers of black. The polished top layer of red contrasts with the duller bottom layer. Early
Ming.

Yuan
In the Yuan dynasty the development of Song styles continued, especially from about 1320,
after something of a hiatus (as also seen in other arts). Pieces in the Sword-Pommel pattern
have more rounded tops to the ridges, and more narrow bottoms. The artistic quality of carving
was perhaps never higher, in all the main streams of iconography: Sword-Pommel pattern,
birds, flowers and foliage, and figures in landscapes. In the crowded, "exuberant and complex"
designs with birds and plants, the forms overlap and curl in a more sculptural fashion, allowed
by slightly thicker lacquer.
By the late Yuan the reputation of individual masters has come down to us, although few pieces
are signed and even these cannot be very confidently assigned to an artist, as the signatures
may not be genuine. Yang Mao and Zhang Cheng were the most famous masters, both from
Jiaxing in the southern province of Zhejiang.

Tray with two birds against a background of

plum blossom and flowers, 19 cm wide, late
Song, 13th century (oblique view). No
overlapping of forms, and relatively wide
strips of background visible.

Lacquerware in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is not much rich at the history of lacquerware. There are different types of pottery
are excavated from many archaeological sites in Bangladesh, named, ‘Northern Black Polished
Ware’ (NBPW), ‘Black Slipped Ware’ (BSW), ‘Black and Red Ware’, ‘Rouletted ware’, ‘Glazed
Ware’, ‘Knobbed Ware’ etc.1 Very little technical analysis of the surface coatings on this
pottery has been carried out in Bangladesh. Characteristics of the black coating found on black
surfaced pottery are the primary focus of present research. Initially potshards were collected
from the two early historic archaeological sites in Bangladesh, and the surfaces of the
potshards were observed using a scanning electron microscope. Next, thin-sections were
prepared from the potshards for microscopic analysis. Potshards were also subjected to
‘pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometric analysis’ (Py-GC/MS). This research could
provide new information about the history of pottery in Bangladesh, and discover a link
between South-east Asia and East Asian countries where cultures are very famous for creating
lacquer coated pottery from pre-historic times.

Uses
Lacquerware has been described as "not unlike modern plastic in that it is light, durable and
clean". Other types of lacquerware were widely used as tablewares, but the pictorial style of
carved lacquer is less suitable for this, with intricate sunk corners that would be hard to clean
of wet food remains. Partly for this reason, wide flattish shapes that are called dishes in other
media, such as ceramics, tend to be rather more flat and to be called "trays" when in lacquer.
Nonetheless there is evidence that carved lacquer was used for serving food. Ming paintings
of court scenes show food for "imperial picnics" being carried by court eunuchs in round lidded
boxes in carved lacquer, a common shape that can reach nearly 40 cm across. The interior of
these is almost always plain lacquer, greatly reducing the problem of keeping them clean, and
the food itself may have been wrapped or in ceramic containers. A Yongle reign dish or tray 35
cm wide, probably made at the Orchard Factory and now in the British Museum, has a rare
inscription indicating the use of the piece, as it declares it the property of the "Imperial
Household Department of Sweetmeats and Delicacies".
Lacquer was more often used for cup-stands (or bowl-stands), a sort of saucer with an integral
raised hollow tube at the center to hold the cup, than actual cups, but sometimes the exterior
of these is carved lacquer, especially in the guri style, while the interior lacquer is smooth. As
in other materials, there is a considerable overlap between the pieces used for serving and
drinking tea, wine, and other drinks.

Thoughts
Lacquerware was a popular form of decoration and protective covering in ancient China. It was
used to color and beautify screens, furniture, bowls, cups, sculpture, musical instruments, and
coffins, where it could be carved, incised, and inlaid to show off scenes from nature, mythology,
and literature.

THANK YOU