Page 309 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

CHU LACQUERS Lacquer is a natural substance extracted from a tree indigenous to the Far East, rhus verniciflua,
that grows in areas of up to five hundred meters in altitude with an average temperature of 8
1
FROM HUBEI to 20 degrees Celsius and an average annual rainfall of more than 60 millimeters. Even under
ideal conditions, mature lacquer trees produce a very small quantity of the substance. Once
PROVINCE collected, raw lacquer (a highly toxic substance) needs to be clarified and processed before
being stored in airtight containers. Application of the lacquer to the underlying object and the
drying period between coats require specific conditions of temperature (between 25 and 30
degrees Celsius) and humidity (between 75 and 85 percent). The processing of lacquer and
manufacture of lacquerware thus required a succession of operations, and workshops included
highly skilled and specialized craftsmen.
The two present-day provinces that compose the approximate geographic area of the Chu
kingdom — Hunan and Hubei — have yielded an abundance of lacquerware dating back three
centuries prior to the advent of the Qin empire in 221 BCE. Several major discoveries were made
in the area during the twentieth century. In the 19305, Hunan was celebrated for the splendid
lacquerware discovered in uncontrolled digs around Changsha; some of these pieces are now
in museums and private collections in the West. In the 19605, a construction boom associated
with Hubei's rising population led to the discovery of several important sites in the Jiangling

area; in the years since, hundreds of tombs (some of them very large) have been excavated.
Recovered objects, often perfectly preserved, have yielded a wealth of information about
the development of lacquer techniques and decoration during what appears to have been the
most important period in the evolution of this craft. 2 The evidence suggests the development
of two independent traditions in lacquerware — one in the Chu kingdom, the other in the
Qin kingdom — prior to the formation of the empire.
Discoveries from Hunan and Hubei indicate that several categories of objects were lac-
quered to take advantage of specific properties of the substance — the decorative aspect of its
glossy surface, its durability, its imperviousness to liquids, and its protective qualities. The con-
tents of Marquis Yi's tomb testify to the extensive and varied use of lacquer during the fifth
century in domestic objects (containers and utensils for daily life, furniture), musical instru-
ments (zithers, flutes, drums, mouth organs), weapons (shields, armor, halberd shafts), funerary
3
items (coffins, carved wooden figures), chariots, and architectural elements. Lacquer was most
often applied to a wood base, but also to leather and bronze. The range of colors — at least
until the Han period — was limited; black and red lacquers, the latter made with cinnabar or a
substitute, were the most common. Motifs painted with two additional colors — yellow and
brown — begin to appear, however, on a few pieces of lacquerware from the fifth century BCE,

including items from the tomb of Marquis Yi. The tomb evidence (in particular, cats. 107 and in)
also testifies to the development of pictorial subjects in lacquerwork by the fifth century BCE.
A succession of innovations during the fourth century furthered the exploitation of the
decorative and technical properties of lacquer. Improvements in wood carving, together with

308 | CHU AND OTHE R C U L T U R E S