HISTORY OF LACQUER IN CHINA The use of lacquer in China goes back traditionally to legendary times. A late Ming manuscript, the Hsui-shih-lu, states that it was first employed for writing on bamboo slips, then for utensils of food made of black lacquer, and subsequently for vessels for cere monial use of black with red interiors. During the Chou dynasty (1122-255 B.c.) it served for the decoration of carriages, harness, bows and arrows, etc., and was the subject of official regulations, being accepted also in payment of taxes. At this time, gold and colours are said to have come into use. About the 2nd century B.C. buildings were decorated with lacquer and musical instruments are similarly described. Under the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25) further development took place and pot-covers of paper, covered with lacquer, were found in 1910 by Ryfizo Torii near Port Arthur which are definitely attributed to this period. Of the lacquer of the T'ang dynasty we have more reliable information, for the collections still preserved in the Horyw-ji temple in Japan, founded A.D. 607, and those collected by the Japanese emperor, Shornu (A.D. 724-749) and deposited after his death, by his widow, in the Imperial Treasury (Shoso-in) at Nara, contain many objects to which must be given a Chinese origin; in particular, musical instruments with inlay of cut-out figures of gold and silver, in serted on the surface, covered with lacquer, which was then rubbed down till the metal ornaments were again brought to view. Under the Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1279), the industry further developed and the use of gold and silver lacquer in the utensils made for the palace is particularly recorded. The late Dr. S. W. Bushell considered that "all branches of lacquer work now carried on in China can be traced as far back at least as the Sung dynasty and that the chief seat of manufacture at that period was Chia hsing-Fu, between Hangchow and Soochow—the latter city being also an important centre of the industry. A lacquer box of the early Sung period, probably once of rhinoceros horn colour, black and red, with gold dust and silver wire, was recently exhibited in London and is one of the very few known examples of the period so far discovered. Towards the close of the period (c. A.D. 20) it is stated that lacquer-wares were exported from Fukien to Java, India, Persia, Japan, Mecca and other places. Chinese writers record the existence of carved red lacquer during the time of the Yuan dynasty (A.D. as well as of pierced ware and that inlaid with shell. Of the state of the industry under the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644) we have contemporary Chinese descriptions ; for instance, the Koku yao lun, published during the reign of the first Ming emperor, and the Ch'ing pi ts'ang of A.D. 1595, both quoted freely by Dr. Bushell. The Hsui shih lu, of which a Japanese translation was published in the Kokka (No. 113), dates from A.D. 1621-28 and from these a good account of the progress of the art can be realized. From these records we glean that there were, in the early years of the dynasty, special fac tories of carved red lacquer at Tali Fu in Yunnan, which also pro duced spurious imitations. Nanking was noted for work of the same kind of high quality and for gold lacquer with pictures, as also were Peking and Ning-kuo Fu in Kiangnan. Inlay of mother of-pearl is also mentioned. The excellence of the carved lacquer made during the reigns of Yung Lo (A.D. 1403-24) and Hsiian-Te
(A.D. 1426-35) is also recorded; and also that encrusted with shell, inlaid with sheet gold and silver, and flecked with powdered gold. Examples of carved lacquer are extant which can reasonably be attributed to this period. They are bold in design and free from the superabundance of small detail which characterized later pro ductions; the colour also is generally deeper and richer than that of the i8th century pieces. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has several good examples of the period. Towards the end of the Ming dynasty, a factory was established at Peking, but fell into disuse during the troubles accompanying the fall of the Ming emperor. The first and, perhaps, the greatest of the Manchu emperors, K'ang Hsi (A.D. 1662-1723), revived it in A.D. 1680, when he established, in the precincts of the palace at Peking, a series of 27 workshops for artistic handicrafts. Carved lacquer was, however, also made at Canton, Tongking, Soochow and Foo chow; and the Jesuit father, Louis le Comte, who arrived in China in 1687, gives a good account of the flourishing state of the in dustry at that time. In this connection it is worth noting that the period of K'ang Hsi is that which saw the first considerable im portation of lacquer-ware (and other objects of industrial art) into Europe. The consequent development of imitation lacquer applied to furniture, etc., which, during the reigns of William and Mary and Anne, had so extended a vogue, was one of the conspicuous features of the Chinoiserie craze of that time. A curiosity of the vagaries of fashion is that objects then made in counterfeit of Chinese art are now more highly prized than the originals. A screen is still in existence made by command of K'ang Hsi for presentation to the emperor Leopold I., whose badge, the double-headed eagle, is incorporated in the design. Carved lacquer of this period hardly attains to the rich colour of that of the Ming period, nor to the breadth and simplicity of design of the latter—though these qualities are far from negligible. In technique the K'ang Hsi ware shows an advance and is generally free from the small cracks too often found to have developed in the Ming products. The perfection of this quality, apart from other considerations, is found in the lacquer-ware of Ch'ien Lung (A.D. 1 736-96) , a devoted admirer of this branch of industrial art, who employed it on a large scale for the furniture and fittings of his palaces, for ceremonial and commemorative gifts and other purposes. The workmanship of objects made under his auspices is brilliant in the extreme, and ranks with the finest products of a nation whose mere craftsmanship has been almost unrivalled. But the colour is hard compared with earlier work, and the design tends rather to a somewhat stereotyped formalism. Still, one can hardly call the i8th century a period of decadence in the indus trial arts of China—the superb execution of its productions, a characteristic which will always, and justly, command admiration, redeems it from adverse criticism. The downward course began in the 19th century, with loss of originality and a falling-off, due to adulteration, in the quality of the material. What was left of the imperial factories was burnt in 1869, and though carved red lacquer was made after that date, the industry had already ceased to have artistic importance.