Lacquer Ware – An Art Flower Blossoming in Traditional Chinese Culture I

Household utensils, handicrafts, artwork covering with paints and varnishes on the surface are commonly been known as "lacquer." Raw lacquer is a natural juice extracted from the lacquer tree, primarily made up of urushiol, laccase, tree resin and water. Use it as a type of paint, due to its resistance to moisture, high temperature, corrosion and other special functions, at the same time it can be prepared into a variety of color paint, shiny and radiant.

In China, people began to learn the special performance of paint from the Neolithic times and use it to make utensils. As go through the Shang and Zhou dynasties until the Ming and Qing dynasties, Chinese lacquer crafts developed continuously, and has reached to a very high level. Chinese Qiang Gilding and Describing Gilding lacquer crafts, has incurred great impacts in Japan and other countries. Lacquer ware is one of important inventions in fields of chemical techniques and industrial arts in China.

Lacquer ware has a long history in China, according to related records of some documents, lacquer were been used by people initially in the Xia and Yu's era as early as more than 4200 years ago, which become more developed in the Warring States Period. In the Han dynasty, lacquer ware were been applied with common household utensils, and become popular increasingly. In the Tang Dynasty the physical production of lacquer ware also had achieved a marked development. After the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasty, the methods of lacquer-making had developed into more than 20 kinds.

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* Original address of this China gift post: China Gift and Fine Arts & Crafts in China