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lacquer
(redirected from Lacquer ware)

   Also found in: Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.09 sec.
lacquer, solution of film-forming materials, natural or synthetic, usually applied as an ornamental or protective coating. Quick-drying synthetic lacquers are used to coat automobiles, furniture, textiles, paper, and metalware. The lacquer formula may be varied to impart durability, hardness, gloss, or imperviousness to water. Nitrocellulose (pyroxylin) lacquers are the most widely employed. Slower-drying natural lacquers contain oleoresins obtained from the juice of trees, especially of Rhus vernicifera, a sumac of SE Asia. Lacquer work was one of the earliest industrial arts of Asia. It was highly developed in India; the Chinese inlaid lacquer work with ivory, jade, coral, or abalone and were unrivaled in making articles carved from it. The art spread to Korea, then to Japan, where it took new forms, notably gold lacquer work. Fine Asian ware may have more than 40 coats, each being dried and smoothed with a whetstone before application of the next. The ware may be decorated in color, gold, or silver and enhanced by modeled reliefs, engraving, or carving. Buddhist monasteries encouraged the art and now preserve some of the oldest pieces extant; in the temple of Horyu-ji, near Nara, Japan, is a Chinese-made sword scabbard of the 8th cent. Notable lacquer artists include Ogata Korin Ogata Korin (ōgä`tä kō`rēn), 1658–1716, Japanese decorator and painter.
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 (17th cent.) and Shibata Yeshin (19th cent.). In the 17th cent., Western European imitations were popularized as japanning japanning (jəpăn`ing), method of varnishing a surface, such as wood, metal, or glass, to obtain a durable, lustrous finish.
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 and carried to great perfection in France in the vernis Martin developed by the Martin brothers under Louis XV. Commercial production of lacquer work in the 19th cent. resulted in a decline in quality.

Bibliography

See Lacquer: An International History and Illustrated Survey (1984).


lacquer
1. a hard glossy coating made by dissolving cellulose derivatives or natural resins in a volatile solvent
2. a black resinous substance, obtained from certain trees, used to give a hard glossy finish to wooden furniture
3. lacquer tree an E Asian anacardiaceous tree, Rhus verniciflua, whose stem yields a toxic exudation from which black lacquer is obtained
4. Art decorative objects coated with such lacquer, often inlaid


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Under supervision of the central government, urushi sap was collected and lacquer ware was systematically created for members of the judicial court as well as for aristocrats.
Although at first glance Sichel's record appears to be nothing more than an extensive listing of artifacts, including painting, sculpture and lacquer ware, and their prices, a closer reading of his account reveals its importance concerning the roles that art dealers, both Japanese and European, played in the export and import of Japanese art at the time.
Look for a unifying principle when displaying a group of items, as Hura did when he used the Japanese lacquer ware in his kitchen.
 
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