Chinese lacquer art
Chinese lacquer art ( Chinese 漆器 , Pinyin Qiqi ) is an enameling technique from China with the beef secretion of the lacquer tree , the Chinese lacquer .
Lacquer art technique
Extraction of the raw substance
The raw material for Chinese lacquer is obtained from the resinous, gray-white, milky bark secretion of the lacquer tree (Rhus verniciflua) . This is mainly found in the central and southern provinces of Anhui , Zhejiang , Fujian , Hubei , Sichuan and Guangxi . The secretion turns brown very soon after removal and then hardens in a lengthy process. The quality depends on the one hand on the age of the tree - ten to fifteen years are ideal - but also on the nature of the soil, the climatic conditions, the harvest month and the care taken in processing.
In the next step, the lacquer juice is filtered with hemp towels and dehydrated and homogenized by gentle heating and stirring . Then the coloring with pigments takes place . The classic paint colors red and black were obtained by adding cinnabar or soot - which was later partly replaced by iron sulphate shavings. It was not until the 19th century that brown ( iron oxide ), green (mixture of indigo and malachite powder ) and yellow ( auripigment ) lacquer were produced. However, the exact shade depended to a large extent on the season.
Carrier material
In most Chinese lacquer work, the core is made of soft pine wood . First of all, the natural bumps, cracks and knotholes were filled with a mixture of glue and varnish, which was then covered with a layer of raw varnish. The whole thing was then covered with hemp or ramie to stabilize the construction . Finally, several layers of primer made of lacquer paste, glue, ash and clay, brick or grindstone dust followed.
From the Han period onwards , in addition to wood, lacquer-soaked hemp fabric also became established as a carrier material. Its processing was very complex and required a considerable degree of skill, which was also reflected in the much higher price of these pieces , which are known as dry lacquer . To a lesser extent, stone , ceramic , metal , bamboo , tortoiseshell , ivory , leather and even paper were also used as carrier material .
Application of the paint
The lacquer was applied to the carrier body in up to two hundred wafer-thin layers, with increasingly higher quality qualities being used as a rule. Each layer had to rest for at least a week to dry. For this purpose, the workpiece was kept in a warm, humid and as dust-free place as possible; Initially, leaf-covered pits, so-called "shadow houses", were used for this purpose. The surface was then carefully polished. After applying the last layer of particularly valuable varnish, it was smoothed with sheets , rapeseed oil and fine-grained deer horn - or slate powder .
The varnish layer created by the various layers - especially in the case of carved varnishes - was sometimes more than a centimeter thick; their creation could take up to two years. Sometimes different colored layers of varnish are applied; then part of the top layer is removed to reveal the color of the layer below. If further processing of the workpiece was planned, this had to be done before the paint layer had completely hardened.
Shapes and styles
Monochrome
The simplest and therefore historically oldest form of Chinese lacquer work are monochrome works, in which the single-color lacquer layer applied was not processed further. The oldest artifacts, mostly fragments of vessels and containers, were found in tombs of the middle and late Shang dynasty . From the Zhou period , armor, weapons and chariots were also coated with monochrome layers of lacquer.
In the Han period, largely superseded by polychrome lacquer painting, monochrome art experienced a certain renaissance under the Song and Yuan dynasties . The simple, elegant aesthetics met the aesthetic ideals valid at the time. Instead of overloaded décor, the pieces created at the time were more convincing with their well-proportioned shapes, gentle curves and interior modeling and, last but not least, a silky, glossy lacquer surface.
The monochrome style experienced a second revival under the Qing emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong .
Lacquer painting
During the Warring States period , but especially during the Qin Dynasty and under the Han , lacquer painting also developed. A black layer of lacquer was applied to tableware in particular, but also to clothes chests, furniture, sacrificial basins and musical instruments, which was then mostly painted with red lacquer; the reverse combination is less common. Initially, geometric decorations borrowed from bronze art dominated, such as lattice or diamond patterns, during the period of the Three Kingdoms the palette was expanded to include ornamental motifs such as stylized birds, dragons, clouds and waves.
In this respect, it very soon even developed mass production that could easily produce several thousand copies of the same bowl or cup. Towards the end of the Han period, people began to apply decorations made of other materials to the lacquer, such as oil paints obtained from the yingzu tree or gold and silver dust. With the fall of the dynasty, lacquer painting experienced a significant decline and was replaced by other techniques.
Lacquer painting returned at a much higher level under the Ming Emperor Wanli and later in the Qing Dynasty under Kangxi . It is now found less on tableware than more on boxes, caskets and, above all, trays. From now on, sophisticated, filigree, detailed landscapes, figurative representations, court scenes or episodes from history were depicted. Gold became increasingly popular as a decorative color. At that time, the center of production was southern China, especially the area around Canton , from where such goods were also shipped to Europe on a large scale.
Scratch paint
As early as the Han dynasty , people began to engrave monochrome lacquer work with a needle-like burin. In the Tang Dynasty , this process was refined under Persian influence; it reached a climax under Emperor Xuanzong . Finally, under the song , the Chiangjin technique came into fashion, in which the engraved lines were rubbed out with fine gold leaf. The Tianqi technique , which flourished under the Ming emperors Jiajing and Wanli, is similar to the scratch lacquer, in which shallow hollows dug into the lacquer surface are filled with lacquer of different colors; the color transitions were smudged sfumato-like by subsequent polishing . Similar to other lacquer techniques, the scratch lacquer experienced a revival in the 18th century.
The scratch lacquer technique was mainly used to decorate vessels, caskets, lidded boxes and the like, and later furniture to a certain extent. During the Mongol period, nine sutra boxes that are now in Japan were created in this style . The paint museum in Münster has a cupboard and a table with a fine dragon decoration from the Wanli era applied using the scratch paint technique . From the Qianlong period comes a series of lidded boxes in the shape of sixteen leaves of chrysanthemums, the surface of which is also adorned with filigree engraved depictions of dragons.
Carved lacquer
China has become particularly famous for its carved lacquer work . In this case, a particularly large number of layers of lacquer are applied to the carrier body, so that the overall layer can be more than one centimeter thick. It is then worked with sharp carving knives. In this way, relief-like, raised, often several millimeters deep and thus three-dimensional patterns are created. Corrections are only possible to a very limited extent; a single slide of the carving knife can ruin the entire work irretrievably.
In particular, vessels such as boxes, vases and caskets were decorated using the carved lacquer technique. In addition, there are also "carved lacquer pictures", which in terms of motif and composition basically continue Chinese landscape painting with other manual means.
The Guri technique represents a special form of carved lacquer . It is characterized in particular by the mandatory use of different colored lacquer layers, which creates special optical effects. In terms of motifs, on the other hand, rather undemanding ornamentation consisting of arches, circles or spirals dominates.
Coromandel varnish
A special form of carved lacquer is the Koromandel technique (Koromandel lacquer ), the origins of which can be traced back to the late Ming period . It is first mentioned at the end of the 16th century under the Chinese name kehui ( incised chalk) or guangzai (incised colored) in Huang Cheng's treatise Xiushi lu (notes on lacquer decorations). The European term appears for the first time around 1750 in its French form vernis de Coromandel and goes back to the southeast Indian coast of the same name ( Coromandel coast ), from which the coromandel varnishes were shipped west.
With the coromandel technique, the wooden support is first coated with a primer made from pig's blood, raw varnish and clay dust. After careful polishing, several thin layers of black or brown lacquer were applied to these. After the surface had hardened, filigree patterns were cut into the lacquer so that the colored areas underneath - often only separated by hair-thin ridges - were partially visible again. These were then painted in with varnish or oil paints, and sometimes also covered with gold dust. In this way, sometimes extremely demanding work was created.
Coromandel art was often used on wall screens ( Spanish wall ). These enjoyed great popularity, for example as gifts for high-ranking personalities. The umbrella shown today in the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, with its detailed depictions of the life and work of the immortals , was commissioned around 1707 by successful exam candidates who thanked their chairman with this gift. Other impressive specimens can be found in the Munich Residence , the Lackmuseum Münster , the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin and the Grassi Museum of Applied Art in Leipzig. To a certain extent, however, boxes, chests and other furniture were also decorated using the Coromandel technique.
The most popular depictions of Coromandel art include floral and bird motifs, landscapes with mountains, lakes and pagodas, and figurative scenes from court life, history or Taoist mythology. This lacquer technique experienced its heyday in the reign of the Qing emperor Kangxi , its geographical center was in the southern provinces around Fujian . In the 18th century, coromandel varnishes were also exported to Europe on a large scale.
Mother-of-pearl lacquer
As early as the Shang dynasty , people began to incorporate mother-of-pearl patterns and ornaments into black lacquer work. Due to the special surface structure of mother-of-pearl, the decor shimmers iridescent in a wide variety of colors, depending on the perspective, and thus contrasts in a unique way with the matt black background. There are two working techniques:
With hard mother-of-pearl, carving knives were used to dug indentations from the surface of the lacquer, the pieces of mother-of-pearl were glued into them and the whole thing was covered with clear lacquer, which was then polished. The mother-of-pearl came mainly from the nautilus and top snail . This technique primarily permitted coarse ornamental decoration and, presumably as a result of Sassanid and Indian influences, had its first climax as early as the Tang dynasty .
When soft pearl other hand, are very thin and fine, from the top shell or abalone pressed originating pearl pieces in the not yet fully cured coating. Then clear varnish is applied. After it had dried, filigree internal drawings were often engraved in the individual mother-of-pearl surfaces, which also made considerably more sophisticated patterns and motifs possible. The origins of the soft mother-of-pearl varnish are believed to be in the Song era , but specific dates of individual works are only possible for the Yuan dynasty . The technique is also known - after the French name of the abalone - as Burgau lacquer .
Soft mother-of-pearl in particular was further perfected during the Ming and Qing times . The artists created extremely filigree depictions, some of which consisted of thousands of individual mother-of-pearl plates, and sometimes played skillfully with the different colors of the individual types of mother-of-pearl. In addition to ornamental bird, flower and tendril decorations, sophisticated scenic representations were created, for example showing scenes from court life or scholars in idealized landscapes.
Tins, caskets, clothes chests, screens and trays were decorated in this way. Larger holdings can be seen in the Museum of Lacquer Art in Münster and in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig. A unique example of mother-of-pearl lacquer art is the magnificent traveling throne of Emperor Kangxis in the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin.
Radiation to other countries
Chinese lacquer art was adopted and further developed by numerous neighboring countries, especially Japan , where the quality of the products in the country of origin was sometimes even exceeded.
From the 16th century onwards, Chinese lacquer products became very popular in Europe. Under Emperor Kangxi , they were even China's most important export goods after porcelain . The British and Dutch trading companies shipped from the southern Chinese ports in particular coromandel lacquer and gold lacquer paintings. Numerous princes showed the products in their “Wunderkammer” or even set up their own lacquer cabinets in their castles and residences , the wall panels of which consisted entirely of coromandel lacquer panels. One example can be found at Nymphenburg Palace in Munich. Sometimes Chinese wall screens were dismantled for this.
Very soon the desire arose in the west for their own paint production, but for a long time they failed to procure the raw material. The knowledge published by the Jesuit Father Martinius Martini in 1655 that the Chinese lacquer is obtained from a tree resin did not lead any further because the lacquer tree did not thrive in Europe. After Father Filippo Buonnani had but 1709 presented a number of replacement formulations, began at the European courts to imitate Chinese lacquer products as seriously as imperfect: There was an extensive lacquer Chinoiserie that a striking accent in the art of European late Baroque and Rococo set should.
A scientific study of the Chinese lacquer art did not take place until the 20th century. The pioneering standard works come from Fritz Löw-Beer , Werner Speiser , Lee Yu-Kuan and Harry Garner .
Chinese lacquer art in European museums
Larger collections of Chinese lacquer art can be found in the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, the Museum of Lacquer Art in Münster, the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig and the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne.
literature
- Monika Kopplin: East Asian lacquer art. Münster 1993, ISBN 3930090007
- Martin Feddersen: Chinese lacquer work. Munich 1958
