Why are ancient lacquer paintings in China always black and red?

Raw lacquer is a natural juice cut from lacquer trees, which is milky white. When oxidized in the air, it is brownish red, and when it is a little thicker, it is almost black. It can be said that black is the normal state of paint. In ancient lacquerware, it was said that "anyone who doesn't say color is black". The word black also comes from this. Black is the blackest and most beautiful black in the world. It is dark, noble, subtle and mysterious, so the art of lacquer can also be said to be black, and black is the most precious color in lacquer painting.

Speaking of red, it is made of natural ore mercury sulfide and lacquerware, and its color is bright and unchangeable for a long time. In ancient literature, there is a saying that "Dan lacquer does not write" to show praise for red lacquer. It is the best companion of black and the second largest color of paint. Red and black are almost the symbols of paint. Last year, the Metropolitan Museum of America held an exhibition of ancient Qi Diao in China, called "Red and Black".

But lacquerware is not only black and red.

In human history, the discovery and use of natural lacquer is the original creation of China people. It is said in "Ten Miles and Eight Townships" that when Shun Yu was in power more than 4,000 years ago, lacquer wood was used, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the princes all over the world. In the Shang Dynasty, not only pigments of various colors were mixed into lacquer liquid, but also the process of sticking gold foil and embedding turquoise appeared on lacquerware, which created the technology of "gold and silver smoothing" in Han and Tang Dynasties. During the Spring and Autumn Period of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the technique of making lacquerware became more and more perfect. The "clam pattern" on lacquerware found in the tomb of Xincun, Xunxian County, Henan Province in the late Western Zhou Dynasty can be used as the beginning of lacquerware decoration. Lacquer painting refers to the decorative painting on ancient painted lacquerware, rather than the "painting" process on ordinary lacquerware. In the art of lacquer painting, although the method of painting is very important, it is also different from western "oil painting". In addition, it also has different expression techniques from murals and silk paintings. Lacquerware is the earliest and most unique work of art invented by China. Lacquer painting is the perfect combination of lacquer and painting, which has a unique historical position in the history of painting.

China lacquer painting has a long history, which can be traced back to Shang Dynasty. Many lacquerware in Shang Dynasty were painted with red or black decorative patterns. The decorative techniques of decorative patterns include realism and distortion exaggeration, and are depicted in monochrome or multicolor. The objects are painted with complex patterns such as thunder pattern, banana leaf pattern, kuiwen pattern, dragon pattern, tiger pattern, gluttonous pattern, string pattern and dot pattern, and some patterns are inlaid with mussels engraved with vortex patterns and turquoise with different shapes. The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is an important stage in the development of lacquer art in China. The fine quality of lacquerware is more and more recognized and mastered by people, and it gradually replaces bronze ware. With the development of lacquer materials and lacquerware manufacturing technology, it is beautifully shaped and beautifully decorated, far ahead of its predecessors. Lacquerware is beautifully decorated and vivid, with rich colors, mainly black, with red painting, simple and gorgeous, reaching an unprecedented level. The welcome map unearthed from Baoshan Tomb in Jingmen, Hubei Province is the earliest existing lacquer painting in China and the earliest and most complete lacquer painting in the world today, which plays an important role in the history of China fine arts. The Han Dynasty was the heyday of the development of lacquer manufacturing in China. The central government not only set up "East Gardeners" in Shaojian House to supervise the production of official lacquerware, but also set up workers in Han Shu and Guanghan counties to supervise the production of various exquisite lacquerware with patterns. Yang Xiong, a poet of the Western Han Dynasty, wrote when describing the grand occasion of producing carved fillers, mother-of-pearl and gold and silver buckles in Han Shu and Guanghan counties. Three-parameter belt, gold, silver and mandarin are all bad. "At the same time, folk workshops are also distributed in Shandong, Henan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Shaanxi, Jiangsu and other places.

Few lacquer paintings were unearthed in the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. However, the number of lacquerware unearthed in Zhu Ran's tomb, a right strategist of the Three Kingdoms period, unearthed in Maanshan, Anhui Province, is amazing, with diverse shapes and colorful utensils, reflecting the level of lacquer decoration in the Three Kingdoms period. The most obvious innovation in decorative arts in the Northern and Southern Dynasties is the invention of green heavy paint and striped paint. The wide application of lacquerware decoration techniques, such as point painting and blue heavy painting, has broken the traditional main color of black and red that has remained unchanged for thousands of years since the Warring States Period. The painted character story "Lacquer Painting Screen" unearthed from Sima Jinlong's tomb in Shizhai Mountain, Shanxi Province is not only an ancient painting handicraft, but also an original painting of the Northern Wei Dynasty. After Sui and Tang Dynasties, lacquer decoration showed new artistic style and aesthetic taste on the basis of inheriting the previous generation. On the other hand, decorative themes with animal patterns mainly use flowers, figures, landscapes and so on. The composition is free and gorgeous, showing a scene of prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Lacquerware in Song Dynasty gradually entered daily life from high-grade luxury goods, which reflected the characteristics of civilian lacquerware technology. The decoration of utensils has changed from fullness and richness in the prosperous Tang Dynasty to fresh and elegant style, with beautiful lines and elegant colors, showing certain times, reflecting rational beauty, static beauty, implicit beauty and introverted beauty. The design is generally based on the theme of people's pavilions, lined with mountains and rivers, birds and animals, and flowers with broken branches on the side, which has the effect of meticulous painting. Works that show the theme of characters have a strong interest in genre painting.

After thousands of years of accumulation, the decorative theme, decorative structure and decorative techniques of lacquerware in Ming Dynasty are more colorful and have distinct artistic characteristics. As far as decorative themes are concerned, there are all kinds of patterns, such as mountains and rivers, auspicious clouds, dragons and phoenixes, flowers, insects and fish, happiness and auspiciousness. The pattern is vivid, natural and generous, which is not only inherited, but also innovative and selective and full of vitality. There are more and more kinds of ornaments, and great achievements have been made in technology, especially in gold lacquer, mother-of-pearl, money painting and inlay, which have ushered in the prosperity of blooming flowers, unique skills, exquisite materials and meticulous workmanship, and seem to have reached the limit, which is insurmountable. The decorative art of lacquerware in Qing dynasty inherited the techniques of Ming dynasty, and the decoration became more and more exquisite and complicated. Especially in the prosperous time of Kanggan, lacquer decoration showed the majestic spirit of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty and represented the secular style of pursuing splendor and wealth. The colors used are complex, the paint is applied at the same time, the carving is everywhere, the patterns are rich and colorful, and the artistic personality is distinct. The most representative of the decorative level of lacquerware in Qing dynasty is the lacquerware made by Qing court. After Daoguang, the Qing Dynasty suffered from domestic troubles and foreign invasion, and its national strength was weak. Lacquer craft gradually entered a low tide, and important lacquer craft categories such as lacquer carving were lost. At this time, although other lacquerware can be produced, the level is inferior, which can no longer be compared with the heyday.