Special Exhibition: Carved Lacquer

Carved lacquer covers several techniques in which the decoration is cut with a blade. In chōshitsu, lacquer is applied in many layers and the thick layer is carved into a relief pattern; it is said to have begun in the Tang dynasty, was practised in earnest from the Southern Song, and was made in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Red lacquer carved this way is called tihong in China and tsuishu in Japan, and black lacquer is tsuikoku. Sōkin (Chinese qiangjin) cuts fine lines into the lacquer with a blade and presses gold leaf into the grooves; it flourished from the Song to the Ming dynasty. Brought to Japan in large numbers, it began to be made there too and is called chinkin, which today is practised mostly in Japan, with Wajima in Ishikawa and Aizu in Fukushima among its centres. In tenshitsu, a pattern is cut into the surface, the cut is filled with lacquer of a different colour, and the whole is ground flat. Kamakura-bori (chōmoku saishitsu) carves the pattern into the wood first and then applies lacquer; it is described as having been influenced by Chinese carved lacquer. The Nezu Museum notes that these techniques arose across the lacquer-using cultures of East and Southeast Asia, and that in Japan many such pieces were prized as imported karamono lacquerware.

Look at where the blade went in: a raised pattern cut out of thick lacquer, or a fine line, perhaps with gold in it, cut into the surface.