How did lacquerware develop?

Lacquer craft in China appeared as early as the Neolithic Age.

Lacquerware made of wood tires in Xia Dynasty was not only used for daily life, but also for sacrifice. It was often painted in red and black. Lacquer art existed in the Yin and Shang Dynasties. 1973 Lacquerware fragments unearthed from Shang Dynasty site in Taixi Village, Chengli City, Henan Province, are engraved with gluttonous patterns on wooden tires and painted with black and red paint.

Lacquerware in the Western Zhou Dynasty was decorated with shells, gold, jade and other materials in addition to Zhu paintings. Shells embedded in lacquer were called mother of pearl.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it became easier to make lacquer wooden tires. Lacquerware is widely used in some daily necessities, and the materials of fetal bones have become more diverse. In addition, in order to increase the three-dimensional sense of objects and make them more exquisite, sculpture and lacquerware are combined with each other to carve many animal images, which are skillfully intertwined. Lacquerware is more colorful and skilled, and the patterns are mostly religious and life forms at that time. There are many kinds of lacquerware crafts in this period: utensils include ear cups, lacquer beans, lacquer plates, lacquer boxes, lacquer enamel and so on; Furniture includes paint box, paint table, paint bed, etc. Musical instruments include harp and bell and drum stand; Weapons include paint shields and so on.

Lacquerware production technology is superb in hollowing out and painting, especially in painting, gold lacquer and fine decorative patterns carved by needles. Lacquerware craft in Qin dynasty was also very developed, especially the government had strict inspection and management mechanism, so there were branded or needled symbols and characters on lacquerware as the basis for inspection.

There are also many kinds of lacquerware in Qin dynasty. From a large number of lacquerware unearthed in Yunmeng, Hubei Province, we can know that there are lacquer boxes, lacquer pots, lacquer cans, lacquer bottles, lacquer ear cups, lacquer spoons, lacquer knives and so on. All of them are colored in infrared black, and the black paint surface is painted with red or ochre patterns. The wooden combs unearthed in Jiangling, Hubei Province have distinctive decorative styles of paintings and calligraphy, especially the decorative patterns of characters are vivid.

Lacquerware reached its peak in the Western Han Dynasty, with a large number and scale, reflecting the extensive use of lacquerware by people at that time. At that time, apart from the official management organization, lacquerware was produced with good quality and exquisite decoration, and lacquerware technology was more prosperous because of the expansion of the origin, with extremely fine workmanship, which was divided into plain workers, painters, cleaners, builders, lacquerers and suppliers. The inscription on the lacquerware records the time and place of production, the name of division of labor and the official name, which shows the rigor of the lacquerware.

The matrix of lacquerware in Han dynasty is mainly made of wooden tires, and there are also sandwiched tires. Lacquerware includes ear cups, lacquer plates, lacquer boxes, lacquer cans, lacquer pots, lacquer marks, lacquer cases, lacquer cups, bronze-like lacquer pots, lacquer pots, lacquer enamel and so on.

The decorative techniques of lacquerware in Han Dynasty are mainly painting, and there are also "cone painting" which shows extremely fine decorative patterns with needle carving. Jade and mica are used as "inlays" of surface patterns. After carving on the surface of lacquerware, gold powder is filled in, and the edge of lacquerware is inlaid with gold or copper. The patterns are made of thin gold and silver sheets and then embedded in lacquerware.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to the prevalence of Buddhism, large-scale Buddha statues made by sandwich technology appeared. At this time, lacquerware technology was used to serve religious beliefs, and lacquerware with tires was also developed. The Buddha statue is made by using the light and firm clamping method. This lacquer Buddha statue is easy to run during religious activities, so it is called "walking statue".

Lacquerware in Tang Dynasty was very prosperous, which can be attributed to its strong national strength, economic prosperity and high cultural level. Lacquer has become one of the taxes at that time, mainly produced in the south, and its production methods are mostly combined with other materials. Such as the combination of gold and silver patterns, "mother of pearl" inlaid with patterns made of shells on the surface of lacquerware, and "weaving" of coated woven utensils and various household utensils.

Lacquerware in the Tang Dynasty was very well made, and the most distinctive decorative technique was carved lacquer decoration, because before the Tang Dynasty, there was no carved lacquer, and more lacquer paintings were used.

The mother bodies of lacquerware in the Tang Dynasty are wooden tires, sandwiched tires, leather tires and bamboo tires. The decoration of Qi Diao, whether it is monochrome Qi Diao or different color Qi Diao, is extremely exquisite.

The technology of tire making and lacquer painting in Song Dynasty was very mature. At that time, not only the official production organization was established, but also the folk production of lacquerware was very common. Lacquerware vessels are diverse in style and simple in shape, showing the beauty of structural proportion. Generally speaking, lacquerware in Song Dynasty is mainly plain and quiet.

The lacquerware of Yuan Dynasty still maintained the level of Song Dynasty, but the decoration technology was worse. There are many kinds of lacquer art in Yuan Dynasty, such as plain lacquer, gilding, removing rhinoceros, removing red and mother-of-pearl. The production of lacquerware in Yuan Dynasty was both government-run and private, with huge organization and fine division of labor. The carcass of lacquerware is made of wooden tires and sandwiched tires, while the products are plates, bowls and pots. One of the most famous is the "Rizo Jujube" round box for picking up rhinoceros, which is currently in the Anhui Provincial Museum. This box is famous for its deep lacquer carving and bright grinding.

Lacquerware in the Ming Dynasty was extremely prosperous. There is a "lacquer work" in the court, which is in charge of Zhang Degang, the son of the famous painter Zhang Cheng in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, making indoor furnishings, furniture and daily necessities for the royal family. Folk lacquerware technology is also generally developed. Painting and Ornament Record was written by Huang Cheng, a famous painter in Ming Dynasty, and it is the only remaining painter's monograph in China.

Lacquer crafts in Ming Dynasty mainly include mother-of-pearl lacquerware, carved lacquerware, rhinoceros-removing lacquerware, gold-plated lacquerware and Japanese lacquerware. The red and color carving in Yongle and Xuande periods was very exquisite, but it was transformed into a new work in Jiajing period.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhouyi was good at picking safflower, and initiated the process of "embedding treasure", in which gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, corals, jasper, jadeite, crystal, agate, tortoise shell, blue gold, pine, shells, ivory and jade were embedded in wood and lacquer resin.

Lacquerware in the Qing Dynasty continued the development of lacquer art in the Ming Dynasty, with the focus on Suzhou, mainly to restore and promote the red-picking and imitation lacquerware lost in the war in the late Ming Dynasty, and the local lacquerware industry also developed. For example, the golden lacquer wood carving in Chaozhou, the colored lacquer bamboo ware in Zhejiang and the leather tire lacquer ware in Guizhou are all famous for their rigorous and meticulous workmanship; Suzhou Zhonggong is called "Zhonggong in the Palace" for making lacquerware articles for the court, which is enough to confuse people by imitating Yongle and Xuande Zhonggong in Ming Dynasty. Yangzhou is also the origin of red picking; In the late Qing Dynasty, red picking in Beijing was like Suzhou.

In a word, lacquerware technology has been developing with the historical evolution of China for thousands of years. The rise and fall and development of this period not only showed the world that lacquerware originated from China culture, but also was the artistic crystallization of the Chinese nation, which had a more profound impact on our life and cultural outlook.

Lacquer craft has been passed down through the ages and innovated by predecessors, making it an outstanding artistic expression in China since ancient times, which can be said to be the epitome of China traditional culture.