Lacquerware of China

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.

The word lacquer is derived from lac (Sanskrit: lākshā, लाक्षा), a resinous substance obtained from lac insects that was once used as a lacquer. 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.

East Asian countries have long traditions of lacquer work, going back several thousand years in the cases of China and Japan. The traditions of lacquer work in South Asia and the Americas are also ancient and originated independently.

Various prehistoric lacquerwares have been unearthed in China dating back to the Neolithic period and objects with lacquer coating found in Japan dating to the late Jōmon period. The earliest known lacquer object, a red wooden bowl, was unearthed at a Hemudu culture (c. 5th millennium BC) site in Zhejiang, China.

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.

By 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.

...
Wikipedia