page_title: Lacquerware
section_title: History and regional production
hierarchical_section_title: Lacquerware / East Asia / Japanese lacquerware / History and regional production
caption_attribution_description: English: [Tebako] (Cosmetic box) Design of wheels-in-stream in maki-e lacquer and mother-of-pearl inlay, Heian period日本語: 国宝 片輪車蒔絵螺鈿手箱
context_page_description: Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, a variety of small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer. Before lacquering, the surface is sometimes painted with pictures, inlaid with shell and other materials, or carved. The lacquer can be dusted with gold or silver and given further decorative treatments.
  East Asian countries have long traditions of lacquer work, going back several thousand years in the cases of China, Japan and Korea. The best known lacquer, an urushiol-based lacquer common in East Asia, is derived from the dried sap of Toxicodendron vernicifluum. Other types of lacquers are processed from a variety of plants and insects. The traditions of lacquer work in Southeast Asia and the Americas are also ancient and originated independently. True lacquer is not made outside Asia, but some imitations, such as Japanning in Europe, or parallel techniques, are often loosely referred to a "lacquer."
context_section_description: Primitive lacquer was used in Japan as early as 12,600 BC, during the Jōmon period.
  Lacquer was used in Japan as early as 7000 BCE, during the Jōmon period. Evidence for the earliest lacquerware was discovered at the Kakinoshima "B" Excavation Site in Hokkaido. These objects were discovered in a pit grave dating from the first half of the Initial Jōmon period (approx. 9,000 years ago) Japanese lacquering technology may have been invented by the Jōmon. They learned to refine urushi (poison oak sap) – the process taking several months. Iron oxide (colcothar) and cinnabar (mercury sulfide) were used for producing red lacquer. Lacquer was used both on pottery, and on different types of wooden items. In some cases, burial clothes for the dead were also lacquered. Many lacquered objects have turned up during the Early Jōmon period; this indicates that this was an established part of Jōmon culture. Experts are divided on whether Jōmon lacquer was derived from Chinese techniques, or invented independently. For example, Mark Hudson believes that “Jomon lacquer technology was developed independently in Japan rather than being introduced from China as once believed”.
  During the Asuka and Nara periods, between the 7th and 8th centuries, Chinese lacquer art forms were imported to Japan.
  In the Heian period (794-1185), various Maki-e techniques characteristic of Japanese lacquerware were developed. While the method of drawing designs with a brush by dissolving gold powder in lacquer is a common technique in other countries, the method of drawing designs with lacquer and then sprinkling gold, silver, or copper powder of various sizes and shapes on top to polish them was developed in Japan. This made it possible to make the gold and silver of lacquerware brighter than before.
  By the Kamakura period (1185–1333), Japanese craftsman under the influence of the Song dynasty arts focused on carving Buddhist imagery into thick coats of lacquer (Kamakura-bori). Japanese craftsman at this time began applying a thin lacquer coat to carved wood substrates, in this way reducing production times and making lacquerware available beyond temples to samurai and merchants.
  In the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600), Japanese lacquerware was exported to Europe by Nanban trade. Japanese lacquerware attracted missionaries from Europe, and western style chests and church furniture were exported in response to their requests.
  The Edo period (1603–1868) saw an increase in the focused cultivation of lacquer trees and the development of the techniques used. In the 18th century colored lacquers came into wider use. With the development of economy and culture, the artistic quality of lacquered furniture has improved. Hon'ami Kōetsu and Ogata Kōrin brought the designs of the Rinpa school of painting into lacquerware. After the middle of the Edo period, inro became popular as men's accessories, and wealthy merchants of the chōnin class and samurai class collected inro of high aesthetic value, precisely designed with lacquer. Marie Antoinette and Maria Theresa are known collectors of Japanese lacquerware and their collections are now often exhibited in the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles.
  In the Meiji period (1868-1912), Richly-decorated lacquerwares in original designs were popular domestically, and even more so with Western buyers during this period of European and American fascination with Japanese art. Shibata Zeshin's lacquer work was especially popular.  In addition, lacquerware called Shibayama and Somada, which were created in the Edo period, became popular for its showy style, inlaid with gold, silver, shellfish, ivory, and colorful metal and glass, and reached its peak during this period. The government took an active interest in the art export market, promoting Japan's lacquers and other decorative arts at a succession of world's fairs. Lacquer from Japanese workshops was recognised as technically superior to what could be produced anywhere else in the world.
  Today, lacquerware is produced throughout the Japanese archipelago, with many regional techniqu
caption: Cosmetic box Design of wheels-in-stream in maki-e lacquer and mother-of-pearl inlay, Heian period, 12th century (National Treasure)
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