Page 7 - Kintsugi Lacquer Repairs on Jaoanese Pottery

Foreword

The reciprocal infl uences in the artistic design of porcelain and lacquer; the enthusiasm,
which culminated in the eighteenth century, for ceramic product s with deep black, lac-
quer-like glazes; and the less common use of lacquer to imitate porcelain: all three testify

to the fact that both materials are closely connect ed in European culture. Furthermore,
the display of these artifact s side by side within the narrow spatial confi nes of a porcelain

and lacquer cabinet takes into account the relatedness of the two substances and their
vying with one another to produce surfaces with the most impressive gleam. Chinese art-
ists simultaneously pursued comparable intentions in the eighteenth century, e.g. the use

of porcelain to imitate red carved lacquer or the decoration of porcelain with lacquer and
with ornamental techniques borrowed from the art of lacquer.

Another aspect of the interact ion between these two materials, and one which has
been seldom considered in the past, occupies the foreground of attention in the exhibi-

tion entitled “Flickwerk – The Aesthetics of Mended Japanese Ceramics.” The usage of
lacquer to artfully repair damaged or broken ceramics, however, is a specifi cally Japanese

phenomenon that transcends the eff ect s immanent in the materials and is based on aes-
thetic ideals which evolved in the culture of tea.
The extremely creative exploration of the aesthetic potentials that become availa-

ble through ennobling ceramics with “lacquer veins” or re-conceiving damaged vessels by
inserting shards or “lacquer patches” is highlighted by a private collect ion which focuses

on this fi eld and which Thomas Bachmann and Gabriel Eckenstein, Basel, Switzerland
arranged to have exhibited at Cornell University in Ithaca NY, USA and at the Museum of

Lacquer Art in Münster, Germany. We express our gratitude to the lenders, to the authors
Ms. Christy Bartlett, Dr. Charly Iten and Prof. James-Henry Holland for their contributions

to the exhibition and its catalogue, and to Dr. Patricia Frick for coordinating the project .

Dr. Monika Kopplin Direct or of the Museum of Lacquer Art