Chinese Lacquerwork

Chinese lacquerwork, decorative work produced in China by the application of many coats of lacquer to a core material such as wood, bamboo, or cloth.

The Chinese had discovered as early as the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046) that the juice of the lac tree (Rhus vernicifera), a naturally occurring polymer, could be used for forming hard but lightweight vessels when built up in very thin layers through the repeated dipping of a core of carved wood, bamboo, or cloth. With the addition of pigments, most commonly red and black, less frequently green and yellow, it could also be used for painting and decorating the outer layers of these vessels. Coffins, chariots, furniture, and other objects found in Shang tombs were often lacquered, and lacquer was used to fix inlays of shell and coloured stone.

Being sticky, painted lacquer must be applied slowly with the brush, giving rise to prolonged motions and fluid, often elegantly curvilinear designs. Since lacquer is almost totally impervious to water, vessels and wine cups have been excavated in perfect condition from waterlogged graves of the late 5th-century-bce Zeng state in Suixian, of the 4th–3rd-century-bce Chu state in Jiangling (now Shashi), and of the early 2nd-century-bce Han dynasty in Changsha. Such works ranged from large-scale coffins to bird- or animal-shaped drum stands to such daily utensils as nested toiletry boxes and food-serving implements. By the Warring States period (475–221 bce), lacquerwork had developed into a major industry; and, being approximately 10 times more costly than their bronze equivalents, lacquer vessels came to rival bronzes as the most esteemed medium for providing offerings in ancestral ceremonies among the wealthy aristocracy.

Objects in lacquer, chiefly from the state of Chu and from Sichuan, depict hunting scenes, chariots and horsemen, and fantastic winged creatures drawn from folklore and painted in a simple but lively style. Large painted-lacquer coffins with such creatures depicted were present in the 5th-century-bce royal tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (Zenghouyi). The labour required for these coffins is suggested by the set of nested Han dynasty coffins found at Mawangdui (two bearing exquisite landscape designs, described below), which are said to represent one million work-hours. A lacquer painted storage box from the Zeng tomb bears the earliest depiction of two of the Chinese directional animals (formerly thought to date from the later Han), together with the names of the 28 stars used in Chinese astrology (previously believed to have been introduced at a later time from Iran or India).

The most remarkable excavated tomb of the Han dynasty belonged to the wife of a mid-level aristocrat, one of three family tombs of the governor of Chansha found in Mawangdui, a suburb of that southern city, and dating from 168 bce or shortly after. Small in scale but richly equipped and perfectly preserved, the wooden tomb consists of several outer compartments for grave goods tightly arranged around a set of four nested lacquered coffins. An outer layer of sticky white kaolin clay prevented moisture from penetrating the tomb, and an inner layer of charcoal fixed all the available oxygen within a day of burial, so the deceased (Xinzhui, or Lady Dai, the governor’s wife) was found in a near-perfect state of preservation. Included among the grave goods, which came with a written inventory providing contemporaneous terminology, are the finest caches yet discovered of early Chinese silks (gauzes and damasks, twills and embroideries, including many whole garments) and lacquerwares (including wood-, bamboo-, and cloth-cored examples), together with a remarkable painted banner that might have been carried by the shaman in the funerary procession.

By the Han dynasty, lacquer production was chiefly carried on at Changsha and in four regional factories in Shu (modern Sichuan) under government control. In addition to the fine lacquerwares excavated from tombs in Changsha, splendid products of the Sichuan workshops, bearing inscriptions dated between 85 bce and 71 ce, have been found in tombs of Chinese colonists at Lelang (Nangnang) in North Korea, and pieces of Han lacquerware have been found as far afield as northern Mongolia and Afghanistan.

The different stages of Han lacquer manufacture were divided among a number of specialized craftsmen. The sugong, for example, prepared the base, which might be of hemp cloth, wood, or bamboo basketwork; after priming, the base was covered with successive layers of lacquer by the xiugong. The top layer, applied by the shanggong, was polished and so prepared for the painter, huagong, who decorated it. Others might inlay the design or engrave through the top coating to another colour beneath it, add gilding, and write or engrave an inscription. A wine cup found at Lelang bears an inscription giving its capacity, the names of the people concerned in its manufacture, a date equivalent to 4 ce, and place of origin, the “Western Factory” in Shu Commandery.

Among the most celebrated examples of Han lacquer painting is a basket found at Lelang (National Museum, Seoul), decorated with 94 small figures of paragons of filial piety, virtuous and wicked rulers, and ancient worthies. Although confined to a narrow band around the inner rim of the basket, these tiny figures are lively and animated, moving easily in the small space. A tray, also found at Lelang and dated correspondingly to 69 ce, bears near the rim a small painting of Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West, sitting with an attendant or visitor on her fairy mountain. Here the lacquer is applied much more thinly, and the brushstrokes have an easy fluency.

Detailed accounts of the lacquerware of the Song dynasty (960–1279) come from two Ming dynasty works. They describe a red lacquer made for use in the palace that was carved with landscapes, figures, and birds; vessels painted in five colours, as well as gold and silver; and bowls black outside and carved red inside. No certain Song pieces matching these descriptions have yet been discovered, however, and it is generally thought that carved red lacquer did not develop until the Yuan dynasty. A bowl (in the British Museum) of lacquered wood with a silver lining engraved with panels of birds and flowers is a rare exception to the character of known Song lacquer; excavated bowls, cups, dishes, and boxes of dull red lacquer are sometimes deeply lobed to resemble a lotus flower but are otherwise undecorated.

While lacquer continued to be made in bolder versions of the undecorated Tang and Song shapes, notable advances in the Yuan dynasty included incising and engraving and filling the lines with gold leaf or silver powder. An example of this technique is a sutra box with floral ornament, dated 1315 (in Komyō-bō, Hiroshima, Japan). The most important innovation was the carving of pictorial designs, floral patterns, or dragons through a thick coating of red or, less frequently, black lacquer. A connoisseur’s manual, Geguyaolun (“Essential Criteria of Antiquities”) by Cao Zhao, says that at the end of the Yuan dynasty Zhang Cheng and Yang Mao, pupils of Yang Hui, were noted for this technique. A number of pieces bearing their names exist today. It had been considered that these were later imitations, made chiefly in Japan, and that carving pictorial designs in lacquer was first practiced in the Ming dynasty. But the 1959 discovery near Shanghai, in a tomb dated equivalent to 1351, of a small lacquer box carved with figures in a landscape shows that this technique was already well established in the mid-14th century.

The carved lacquer first developed in the Yuan dynasty continued through the Ming and Qing and was made in many different factories. It reached a high level in carved red lacquer (tihong) dishes, trays, covered boxes, and cups of the Yongle and Xuande reigns. Yongle reign marks, scratched on with a sharp point, are not reliable, but some pieces, bearing carved and gold-inlaid marks of the Xuande emperor, may be of the period. It is often difficult to distinguish genuine Ming lacquer from Korean and Japanese imitations, and reign marks are not in themselves a reliable guide to dating.

Decoration of this early Ming lacquer includes both pictorial designs (landscapes with figures in pavilions are common) and rich dragon, phoenix, and floral motifs, carved deeply in a full, freely flowing and plastic style, often against a yellow background. While this style continued into the 16th century, the Jiajing period also saw the emergence of more realistic and intricate designs that are shallower and more sharply carved, sometimes through as many as nine layers of different colours, on a background consisting of minute brocade (allover floral and figure designs) or diaper (diamond-shaped) patterns. Other techniques that were popular in the middle decades of the Ming include carving through alternate layers of red and black lacquer, known by the Japanese name guri; inlaying one colour with another; and outlining the inlay with engraved lines filled with gold lacquer. Painting and inlaying with mother-of-pearl and other materials were also employed.