Historical records of lacquer painting technology

Liangzhu cultural cemetery excavated by Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in 1986 at the anti-mountain site in Yuhang County, Hangzhou, in which some coffins were covered with large pieces of red lacquer. Several pieces of lacquerware inlaid with cinnabar jade were also found in the funerary objects, many of which were painted with cinnabar color on exquisite muddy black pottery or stone tablets. During the period of 1987, a large number of cinnabar lacquerware were unearthed in the tomb of Liangzhu culture in Yaoshan site of this county, many of which were inlaid with jade patterns, and more than 200 pieces were found only with jade patterns for inlay. One of the high-handle cups, only 2-3 mm thick, is inlaid with jade with vermicelli. Although the wooden tire is rotten, the cinnabar paint inside and outside the whole body is still intact, and the surface is still shiny, which shows the beautiful shape of the high-handle cup. Remarkably, there is an oval green jade pattern embedded under the cup, which is red and green, adding to the icing on the cake. Such exquisite lacquerware is rare in Neolithic archaeology in China. These findings show that as early as 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, the primitive lacquer painting technology in southern China had reached a fairly skilled level. It is on this basis that the southern part of China finally reached its peak in lacquer painting technology after the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the Warring States Period and the Qin and Han Dynasties, thus occupying an important position in the history of arts and crafts in China.