The Depository · Browse · Lacquerware
29 techniques from 15 countries; by risk level: 9 critically endangered, 19 endangered, 1 vulnerable. Each record opens with a public summary; the full research record is free to view once registered.
Khmer Lak is gold-on-black lacquerware using rattan or bamboo weave bases coated with yang-rak lacquer.
Fuzhou bodiless lacquer (脱胎漆器) is one of the most technically remarkable lacquer traditions in the world: a vessel or object form is built up entirely from layers of raw lacquer and cloth — then the interior mold (clay or plaster) is…
Sichuan lacquerware (四川漆器) is one of China's oldest lacquer traditions, predating the Han Dynasty and documented in excavated burial objects from Chu Kingdom sites (4th–3rd century BCE).
The harvesting of leaf-bud resin from the mopa mopa tree (Elaeagia pastoensis Mora), and its transformation — by boiling, hand-and-teeth chewing, dyeing, and stretching into paper-thin colored sheets, often layered with silver leaf — into…
Light, strong everyday objects made by layering washi over a base of paper, bamboo or wood and coating them with persimmon tannin (kakishibu) or urushi lacquer.
Kiso Shikki (木曽漆器) is the lacquerware tradition of the Kiso Valley in Nagano Prefecture, built on the region's abundant local Japanese cypress (hinoki) timber and established at the start of the 17th century under the patronage of the…
Kyō-Nuri (京塗 — Kyoto lacquer) is the court lacquerware tradition of Kyoto — producing tea ceremony utensils (tea caddy, lacquered bowl stand, lacquered trays), Buddhist altar objects, and decorative boxes in urushi (Japanese lacquer —…
Maki-e (蒔絵 — 'sprinkled picture') is Japan's supreme lacquer decoration technique — applying designs by painting with urushi on a lacquer surface and sprinkling gold or silver powder while the urushi is still wet, then sealing and…
Ryukyu Shikki (琉球漆器) is the lacquerware tradition of Okinawa — distinct from mainland Japanese lacquer traditions in its use of a brilliant vermillion (朱 shu) as the primary color rather than black, and in a decorative repertoire of three…
Tsuikin (堆錦) is Ryukyu lacquer's relief-appliqué technique.
Urushi-kaki (漆掻き — lacquer scraping) is the practice of harvesting urushi sap from the Toxicodendron vernicifluum lacquer tree — the raw material for all Japanese lacquerware (CRAFT-0460, 0468, 0471).
Wajima-Nuri (輪島塗) is Japan's most technically rigorous lacquerware tradition — produced in Wajima on the Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa Prefecture, and renowned for the 120+ process steps required for a single piece and the jinoiko (地の粉)…
Lao gold-on-black lacquerware (ເຄື່ອງລັກ kheung lak) is the Buddhist ritual and decorative lacquer tradition of the Lao Loum people — producing manuscript cabinets, alms bowls, trays, and temple objects in black lacquer with gold leaf…
A traditional Maldivian decorative technique in which turned wooden vessels boxes and architectural elements are coated with successive layers of natural resin lacquer (liyelaa) colored with mineral and organic pigments and incised with a…
A layered lacquer technique with origins entirely independent of and predating contact with Asian lacquerware, in which fat rendered from a scale insect (aje) is combined with plant oil and powdered dolomite or lime-rich earth to build a…
A pre-Hispanic Guerrero lacquer tradition centered on the rayado ("scratched" or incised) technique, in which a design is carved through a top layer of colored lacquer to reveal a contrasting layer beneath, then further embellished with…
Bagan yun (ယွန်းထည်) is the supreme lacquerware tradition of Myanmar — produced in and around Bagan and Mandalay for over a thousand years and widely considered the finest lacquerware tradition in Southeast Asia.
The sadaik (စာဒိုင်း) is the lacquered wooden chest used to store Buddhist palm-leaf manuscripts (parabaik) and paper manuscripts in Burmese Buddhist monasteries — one of the most functionally and aesthetically significant craft objects in…
Mon lacquerware (မွန်ယွန်း mon yun) is the lacquer tradition of the Mon people of Mon State and the Bago Region — a tradition older than Bagan yun (CRAFT-0422) since the Mon civilization preceded the Bamar in the lower Irrawaddy.
Shan lacquerware (ရှမ်းယွန်း shan yun) is the regional lacquer tradition of Shan State — distinct from Bagan yun (CRAFT-0422) in its use of a thicker bamboo coil base (less flexible than Bagan), a different engraving vocabulary (Shan…
Hala (ہالہ), a small town in Matiari District, Sindh, is Pakistan's primary lacquerware center — producing the brilliantly colored lac-turned wooden objects that are among Pakistan's most recognized craft exports.
Two related but visually and historically distinct lacquer-miniature painting traditions, both descended, like Palekh (CRAFT-1871), from icon-painting centers whose masters turned to secular papier-mâché box painting after the 1917…
A miniature tempera-painting tradition of the village of Palekh, born in 1923 when icon painters — suddenly without legitimate work after the Bolshevik Revolution outlawed religious art — transferred their exact inherited technical skill…
Najeonchilgi is the Korean art of inlaying iridescent mother-of-pearl (abalone, turban snail, and oyster shell) into an ottchil lacquer base — producing objects of extraordinary luminous beauty that have been central to Korean decorative…
Ottchil is the Korean natural lacquer tradition — the application of sap from the lacquer tree (Rhus verniciflua) to wood, fabric, metal, or ceramic surfaces through multiple coats of progressive refinement to produce the characteristic…
Raban (රබන්) is Sri Lanka's lac-on-lathe tradition — closely related to the Newar pole-lathe (CRAFT-0553) in applying stick lac to friction-warm spinning wood, but using a foot-pedal driven lathe rather than a bamboo-spring pole-lathe.
Taiqi (台漆 — 'Taiwan lacquer') is Taiwan's indigenous lacquer tradition — distinct from Japanese urushi (CRAFT-0460), Chinese mainland lacquer, and Burmese hman-zi (CRAFT-0425) — developed in Lukang from Fujianese lacquer techniques adapted…
Application of multiple layers of black lacquer (Lak tree resin) on teak or bamboo substrates, followed by gold leaf application on a tacky intermediate coat to create intricate decorative motifs on the black ground.
Sơn mài is the Vietnamese lacquer tradition — distinct from Korean ottchil (CRAFT-0020) and Japanese urushi in its multi-layer color technique and grinding-back process.