Do you know? The Palace Museum is the museum with the largest and richest collection of lacquerware in the world.
When it comes to ancient lacquerware, in addition to the extremely delicate Ming and Qing lacquerware:
Qingqianlong model red "Sea Moon Incense Plate" | Collection of the Palace Museum
The general impression that many people have of its previous lives is probably:
In the southern part of the Warring States of Qin and Han, the bottom of the tire is mainly wood, and the pattern of the surface is red and black, gorgeous and atmospheric, full of the style of Chu culture.
Those who are familiar with this may think:
The lacquerware of the Mawangdui Han Tomb, especially the exquisite tableware sets, is the most eye-catching representative of it.
Mawangdui Han Tomb Lacquerware | Hunan Provincial Museum Collection of Mawangdui Han Tomb Lacquerware | Collection of Hunan Provincial Museum
But in reality, the stereotypes about lacquerware are time to sweep away.
01
Let's start with the space-time distribution. Lacquerware is neither a trademark of the Warring States of the Qin and Han Dynasties, nor is it a patent of the South.
Hemudu's vermilion lacquered wooden bowl | Collection of Zhejiang Provincial Museum
As early as the Neolithic Age, there were vermilion lacquer artifacts in the Hemudu culture. In the core area of the Xia Shang civilization, the tombs of Yanshi Erlitou, Anyang Yin Ruins, and Taixi, Gaocheng, Hebei, also have the remains of lacquerware. By the time of the Shang Zhou Dynasty, as far away as the Fangshan Liulihe River in beijing, large pieces of lacquer had appeared, and lacquerware in other parts of the Western Zhou Dynasty had been countless.
The territory of the Han Dynasty was vast, and the jurisdiction of Lelang County was established in the territory of present-day Korea, where lacquerware was the first batch of Han Dynasty lacquerware to be studied. Even if it is a Han tomb lacquerware comparable to Mawangdui, there are still Yinqueshan Han tombs in Linyi, Shandong Province, and so on. By the rise of porcelain, lacquerware was replaced to a considerable extent, which is the last word.
As for why many of the exquisite lacquerware in our impression come from the south, on the one hand, the local raw materials are abundant, and on the other hand, the climatic conditions in the south are conducive to the use and preservation of lacquerware.
02
Then there's the material. From the Shang Dynasty to the Qin and Han Dynasties, lacquerware was widely used in the era, and the craftsmanship has always been varied, and it is by no means the only one we have in mind.
Now when we think of lacquerware, we take it for granted that it is painted on wooden utensils. In fact, early lacquerware did predominate in this way. But in the end, the term "lacquerware" does not limit its material, but is only defined by the process of lacquer, so there can be a variety of fetal bones as a base.
In addition to wooden and bamboo fetal bones, it is easy to imagine, metal arrow shafts, etc., leather arrows, belts, shield surfaces, gourds made of scoops, can be painted, on the one hand, play a decorative role, on the other hand, so that the utensils are not easy to corrode, more durable. In addition, pottery can also be painted with lacquer, which is the so-called "lacquered pottery".
But the variety of fetal bones doesn't stop there. We generally think that this type of utensils made of bamboo wood may have gradually replaced the bamboo wood material - this is the lightweight and beautiful "tire" process.
The lacquer of the tire clamp is | Collection of Hubei Provincial Museum
If the wooden tire is not completely cancelled, it is called a clamp tire, which is a thin layer of wooden tire that is not strong enough and not easy to form, so it is pasted with sackcloth and then painted. This practice has appeared in the Chu region of the Warring States, and it was more popular in the Han Dynasty; at the same time, it was also found in the pottery tires, copper sheets and other materials to add mounting cloth, such as in the Han Tomb of Juye Laterite Mountain.
The real tire refers to the direct removal of the hard fetal bone, completely made of linen or ribbon paste and lacquered. However, the cloth must also be based on a hard surface to paste up, the tire is actually experienced a process of "rebirth" - first there is a wooden or ceramic inner tube, on which to paste several layers of cloth, and then painted; after the paint is dry, the outer layer becomes hard, then remove the inner tube, and the only thing left is the shell made of cloth and paint. Of course, the utensils of the tire are generally small pieces, and the strength of the utensils that are too large is still easy to hold.
03
Finally, the decoration. If you think that there is only a pattern painted in red and black, it is inevitable to look down on the ancients.
Earlier techniques, in addition to finishing, also have printing. The decorative method of re-coloring the surface after the paint can be divided into two kinds, the dark pattern is a translucent paint made of raw lacquer and pigment, and the light-colored pattern paint is mixed with tung oil and mineral powder pigment. The color of the pattern is not only red and black, but also yellow, blue and so on.
This thick paint can also be coated with a thick layer on the surface of the vessel to form a raised bas-relief effect, which can then be depicted on it. This is a decorative technique invented by the Western Han Dynasty, but because it is too labor-intensive, it has not been available since the Han Dynasty.
When it comes to depicting ornaments, it is natural to depict gold and silver. However, the use of gold and silver decoration techniques is more than this, in the Han Dynasty can also be made of thin gold and silver foil to make an appliqué, is pasted on the undried paint film, and then continue to paint it on it to cover it, dry and then in the place to do the decal to polish, exposing the gold and silver inside, become a decoration. In addition, there was also a practice that was considered a "local tycoon" at that time, called a lacquerware, which was wrapped in metal on the mouth edge or ear of lacquerware, which also appeared in the Han Dynasty.
In addition to various ornaments, it must be mentioned that there is also a mosaic process. As early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, people inlaid turquoise and shells on lacquerware, and the lacquer of Fangshan Liulihe is a gorgeous red and white screw ware. When we arrived at the Chaohu Han Tomb, there was even a "hundred treasures embedded" with gold and silver pearls and jade in one.
Restoration of the Liuli river lacquer | Restoration by the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
The above decoration is "doing addition" on the utensils, and the decorative means of "doing subtraction" are of course also available. It can be carved on the carcass, and in the Han Dynasty, it can also be used to carry out discontinuous small depictions with needles and cones on the undried paint film, called cone painting and needle engraving. Further, these small depictions of filling paint or gold powder are called fill paint and gold, respectively. The process of filling the lacquer with gold has been continued and carried forward since then, and it is still widely used in the Qing Dynasty lacquerware collected in the Forbidden City.
Qingqianlong lacquered lotus leaf shaped disc | Collection of the Palace Museum
The variety of early lacquerware is really not covered by stereotypes. Although many of these artifacts were damaged due to time erosion or deformed due to poor preservation techniques after excavation, it is inevitable that the artifacts we see have "survivor bias".
Lacquerware of No. 1 Han Tomb in The Mountain Head of Chaohu Lake, Chaohu Han Tomb, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2007
Next time you go to the museum, you may wish to see if there will be any other appearance except for those red, red, black and black southern artifacts, lacquerware from thousands of years ago.
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