Page 93 - China, 5000 years : innovation and transformation in the arts

durable bond, lacquer is ideal for this purpose. By
exploiting these qualities, artisans working in
lacquer are able to inlay or adhere a range of
materials to surfaces, thus vastly expanding the
decorative potential of their medium.
Like modern fiberglass resin, wet lacquer is
absorbed by wood and fabrics; when it has cured, it
creates a material that is much stronger than either
of the two substances separately. Fabric can be
soaked in lacquer and molded, creating a vessel or
sculpture that will retain the molded shape. Applied
to a wood core, lacquer will form a lightweight,
strong, and, if desired, elaborately shaped vessel or
object of considerable strength and durability.
A sophisticated understanding of the medium was
required before carved lacquers could be created. In
order to undergo the chemical change required for
curing, lacquer must be applied in very thin coats.
The thick coverings necessary for carving are
achieved by applying multiple coats. The most
complex carved lacquers might have a thin wood
core reinforced with a layer of lacquer-impregnated
cloth; over that, base coats created by adding
combinations of ash, rice paste, wood powder, or
fine clay to lacquer; and multiple finish coats of
refined lacquer. Each coat has special qualities of
sealing, filling, leveling, and finishing, and must be period. Most Shang dynasty lacquers have a red
applied in the proper conditions and in proper
sequence. Since each coat must cure and be
mechanically smoothed before another is added, the
thickest applications can require as much as a year
from the initial coat to the final finish. 5
EARLY CHINA (CA. 3000 BCE-220 CE)
In the past, much of the study of early Chinese art
has been focused on the nonperishable materials of
bronze, jade, and ceramics. In part this was due to
the interest of Chinese antiquarians, who were
most interested in those materials mentioned in
—their Classics bronzes (particularly those with
inscriptions) and jades. Early Western studies of
bronzes and jades followed similar lines, with a
greater emphasis on surface decoration and form.
Their advanced technologies and intrinsic beauty
have long made Chinese ceramics a focus of
Western scholarship. Rarely did objects of
lacquered wood or other perishable substances
survive to enter a museum or a private collection
and allow a glance into their early development.
During the past few decades, however, archaeology
has provided a more complete record of these
perishable materials. Lacquered objects have been
found in considerable numbers in tombs dating as
early as 3000 BCE and have provided indications of
some of the developments in use and style in a
medium employed primarily as a paint. Combined
with a number of textiles dating between the late
SO FINE A LUSTER: CHINESE L ACQ U E R WAR E S
fourth and early second century bce, these lacquers
have provided a far broader understanding of
artistic endeavors in two-dimensional mediums
during this period of China's history.
In early China lacquer trees, and therefore the
production centers of lacquers, were most common
along the Changjiang (Yangzi River) from Sichuan
to Zhejiang provinces. Unlike bronze foundries and
ceramic kilns, which required substantial industrial
equipment and left many traces where they were
set up, lacquer required only areas for refining the
raw material and brushes and other perishable tools
Nofor its application. sites of early lacquer
production have been located.
A cup excavated in 1978 from a site of the
Neolithic Weizhi culture atYuyaohe, Zhejiang
Province, is the earliest known Chinese lacquered
vessel. 6 Made of a wood core coated with red
lacquer, it dates between 5000 and 3000 bce. The
application of colored lacquer to a wooden base
attests to an advanced technique; it is likely that
lacquer had been in use for some time before this
cup was created. The remains of early Bronze Age
lacquers found in Shang dynasty sites in Anyang,
Henan Province, and elsewhere indicate that
lacquer technology advanced rapidly during this
ground with designs of taotie (abstract zoomorphic
masks), leiwen ("thunder patterns," which take the
form of squared spirals), and other motifs derived
from bronze decor of the time.
The use of lacquer as an adhesive was also known
during the Shang dynasty, as attested by surviving
objects inlaid with the shell of fresh-water clams,
turquoise, ivory, and sheets of gold foil. Western
Zhou (ca. 1 100—771 bce) lacquers from north China
show that lacquer continued to be used extensively
as an adhesive during this period as well. 7
Two major artistic developments from the sixth to
the third century bce were the creation of a
painterly style and ot a representational art; lacquers
are among the major surviving examples of both.
Lacquered vessels with smooth, curved surfaces
devoid of relief or other three-dimensional
patterns, and large lacquered wood objects with Hat
surfaces, such as tomb chambers and coffins, relied
exclusively upon contrasts in lacquer colors tor
decoration.
The majority of surviving lacquers dating from the
Spring and Autumn (770-476 bce) and Warring
Si. lies (475-221 BCE) periods come from what was
then the kingdom of Chu. 1 OCated along the
central Changjiang basin. Chu enjoyed .1 favorable
climate, advanced agricultural techniques, an
abundance of natural resources, and .1 network of
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