The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1888-06-22
JAPANESE LACQUER.
How the Tree Is Cultivated by Order O
the Government.


the Government.
The ruhs vernicifera, an evergreen
tree from which the lac or gum is cb-
tanned, is cultivated in every section
of Japan. AS long ago as the sixth
century an edict of the Emperor re-
CURED every landholdcr to plant GER
tain proportion of his acreage with this
lacquer tree, just as he was compelled
to cultivate and maintain certain
number of mulberry trees, and but for
this governmental support it is doubt
full if the art, even then widely prac-
ticed, would have attained it's great
perfection. Every tree, when tapped
to obtain its gum, died in the course
of two years. The amount obtained
from tree five years cd seldom, en-
ceeded three ounces. In the noun
famous districts the tree was of slower
growth and was permitted to grow for
ten years before the gum was drained.
The gum varied in quality according
to the part of the tree which exuded it,
that from the twigs being most es-
teemed and drying with superior hard
ness.
Among other uses in very remote
periods, lacquer served in finishing
collins, probably for ornamentation as
much as because it rendered the wood
impervious to moisture, but it's every
day uses were those which gradually
raised it'll more and more to place among
the arts. The gum, when applied to
the prepared wood, can be prepared
with either oil or water. Modern lac
quers contain scarcely trace of the
true gum, and hence it comes that they
do not possess either the enduring
qualities or beauty of older work. True
lac will not blister or peel from the
wood, and does not change appearance
from subsection to water or heat. The
most conclusive test of this property
was in 1878, when the steamer Nile,
returning to Japan, with the specimen
purchased for the Yeddo museum,
foundered in twenty-five fathoms of
water. Eighteen months after divers
employed by the Governmentrecovered
two hundred cases from the steamer,
and the ancient lacquers were as per-
feet in joints, color and polish as when
they left the hands of their makers.
The finest lacquer sknown are those
made between 1850 and 1860. 1t is
o1oi cd 70. hot %ho
prepared by boiling and heating, gold
leaf being pounded into the fbers of
the wood until it would receive no
more. Upon such a foundation the sue
cessive coats of gum were carefully APP
piled. Not less than thirty-three
stages of treatment were given, and
often the number was sixty. Owing to
the presence of moisture in the lac, and
possibly also in the foundation itself,
the coats of gum required protection
that the hardening and drying might
take place slowly. To accomplish this
newly vanished pieces were creased
in a damp box, where they remained
full month-the shortest interval per-
mitted between two stages of treat
ment. Polishing followed each coat Of
lac. The golden grains which seem to
float in the thickness of the lac and
which are filings highly sifted on the
fresh yarnish are not a tawdry display
of yellow metal, but represent and be-.
come an imperishable body of harmoni-
;ous Color which can not be rivaled in
pain ing or porcelain. To produce a
full palette of such metallic
colors for lacquer work is an
art unknown outside of Japan.
yet there are specimens in which 10
tones of metallic color may be counted.
There arc also names for twelve varie-
ties of different sizes in metallic pow
.ders. Although this is intricate enough
for ordinary art industries, the artistic
part of lacquers can only be begun
when this mechanical part is thor
oughly mastered. When the ground
has been primed and polished and
powdered and repolished, before pro
ceeding with other coats of lacquer,
the design must be begun. Unlike
painting, where change of pigments
makes a change of color. in fine lac
quer relief is given and is emphasized
more by change in the size of metallic
powders than by color. 1t has been
often asserted that the foundation
wood Of lacquers was carved to pro-
duce the relief. This may be true to
some extent in incrustations of bronze,
silver, pearl. or porcelain, not other
wise; The relief is usually built up
with nothing else than repeated coats
of the thin lac varnish.. These coats
are each subjected to the same slow
process OF drying and to the accurate
polishing which makes tkem appear
complete in every stage of progress. =
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