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The special technique of carved lacquer has a long tradition. According to
the famous treatise Xiushilu by Huang Cheng from the
sixteenth century16,
the earliest historic text referring to lacquer production, the technique can
be traced to the Tang period (618–907), although the oldest preserved carved
lacquer objects date from the Song period (960–1279). The technique reached
highpoints in the Yuan (1271–1368) and Ming (1368–1644) periods, after
which courtly production decreased. Only in the Qianlong period did the
tradition of carved lacquer arts in the imperial workshops see a renewed
and final major
flowering.17
Vessels and containers made from carved lacquer were of little practical
use and were an extreme luxury because of their precious material and
extremely time-consuming production. They were specially made for courtly
use and highly prized as diplomatic gifts. Furniture and screens were seldom
produced in this technique. Likewise seldom were combinations of carved
lacquer with lacquer painting and other lacquer techniques.
2.2 TECHNIQUE
Carved lacquer is built up from numerous, sometimes up to hundreds of
individual lacquer layers, into which figures and patterns are only cut or
engraved after all of the layers have hardened. The different carved lacquer
techniques have their own terms in Chinese: carved lacquer generally is
called diaoqi, that consisting exclusively of red lacquer layers is called tihong,
and carved lacquer with layers in different colours is called
ticai.18
2.2.1 SUPPORT
Due to its good adhesion to almost all materials, the supports for East Asian
lacquer vary, from paper and leather to woven bamboo and rattan to ivory,
ceramic, and bronze. Traditionally, however, wood is most commonly used.
2.2.2 GROUND
The wood support is usually pre-treated with lacquer, animal glue, starch,
or blood.
To level knotholes and irregularities and smooth the surface, nearly all
lacquer works receive a multi-layered ground applied with spatulas. Textile
or wood fibres or paper are usually embedded in this. The ground forms a
levelling layer between the support and the lacquer and secures connections,
joints and corners.
16 The following information from the Xiushilu was taken from the dissertation
Chang 2019 (cit. n. 13), itself based on the edition of the text in Shixiang Wang,
Xiu shi lu jie shuo: Zhongguo chuan tong qi gong yi yan jiu, Beijing 1983.
17 See Patricia Frick, Schnitzlack, in: Monika Kopplin (ed.), Im Zeichen des Drachen.
Von der Schönheit chinesischer Lacke, Munich 2006, 92–95.
18 Early carved lacquers with different coloured layers (usually red and black) and
regular ornaments (double volutes) are called tixi (a synonym for the Japanese
guri).
Christiane Jordan, Silvia Miklin-Kniefacz, and Richard Miklin
