Lacquerware
Laca de urushi
- Date
- c. 2500 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Hemudu (Zhejiang) and Liangzhu, China; Anyang (Shang)
- Credited to
- Chinese Neolithic cultures (Hemudu, Liangzhu); Shang industry
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Sap from the Toxicodendron vernicifluum tree applied in dozens of thin layers that polymerise into a hard, waterproof, glossy coating, coloured with cinnabar or carbon. In the Shang period it already covers coffins, shields and ritual vessels.
A lacquered bow from Kuahuqiao (c. 6000 BCE) and a bowl from Hemudu (c. 5000 BCE) would be the earliest examples, but systematic production is from the Chinese Bronze Age.
What it led to
- Wooden objects resistant to water and acids, substitutes for bronze in elite tableware
- The Chinese and Japanese lacquer art tradition that continues today
- Chemistry of natural polymers and mercury pigments
- Export industry of Han China and trade with Southeast Asia
Built on
- Kakinoshima urushi lacquerc. 7000 BCE
- Copper saw and metal woodworking toolsc. 3000 BCE
- Cinnabar pigments
- Painted pottery
Made possible
- Carved lacquer
- Lacquered shields and armour
- Lacquered furniture