China is home to the oldest lacquer art in the world. Lacquerware exhibits ancient Chinese aesthetics, and has historically been treasured in the East and West. Its ethereal and lively structure, elegant and mysterious designs, and rich and distinctive colors are all intrinsic traits of Chinese aesthetics.

In ancient times, cultural exchanges between China and the outside world were mainly carried out through commercial trade, missionary activities and diplomatic envoys. The spread of China’s lacquer art can be traced back to as early as the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), when lacquerware together with silk, gold and utensils were introduced to Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia and the Middle East through sea and land routes. It later spread to Europe through Persia. Chinese aesthetics was then infused into European culture.

In The Travels of Marco Polo, a 13th-century travelogue by Rustichello da Pisa based on stories told by Italian merchant traveler Marco Polo, there is reference to a royal garden with pillars carved with lacquer belonging to a Mongolian tribe leader. This is believed to be the first account of China’s lacquer art in Western literature. In the 16th century, Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci wrote in The Journals of Matthew Ricci about “a kind of pigment or Sandarac, called lacquer.”

French scholar Luce Boulnois wrote in his book The Silk Road: “In general, at that time, the southern part of China sells tea and purchases horses, while in the northern part they export chinaware, lacquerware and silk, especially to Southeast Asian nations.”

Jean-Baptiste Du Halde, a French Jesuit historian specializing in China, praised China’s lacquer art in The General History of China: “Lacquerware, chinaware and silk with sophisticated technologies can well demonstrate the wisdom and intelligence of Chinese craftsmen.” Lacquer art has since remained a recurrent subject in Western literature.

The spread of China’s aesthetic thought through lacquer art peaked in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. The article “Chinoiserie” in the Encyclopedia Britannica reads: “17th- and 18th-century Western style of interior design, furniture, pottery, textiles, and garden design that represents fanciful European interpretations of Chinese styles.”

The term for the decorative style that was popular in Europe in the 18th century, “Rococo,” originally denotes “shell cut.” This meaning is similar with that of Chinese decoration, which features inlaying lacquer with mother-of-pearl. In the 17th century, the term “decorate” referred to “decorative art” in general and also embodied the meaning of “lacquer.”

In summary, at least four cultural and aesthetic implications can be concluded from the spread of China’s lacquer art: First, China’s ancient aesthetics were spread to the outside world through utensils; Second, the artistic temperament of ancient lacquer art embodies classic Chinese aesthetics; Third, the aesthetic knowledge in the process of appreciation of lacquer art helps aesthetics to be accepted by society; Fourth, exchanges brought about by the exporting of lacquerware on the Silk Road are essentially the transmitting of Chinese aesthetics, which gives rise to national identification of lacquer art and its status in the world.

The Chinese link: http://art.cssn.cn/ysx/ysx_ysqs/201406/t20140606_1199586.shtml

Translated by Du Mei

　　Revised by Tom Fearon