Yangzhou Lacquer-decorating Craft

The Yangzhou lacquer-decorating craft began over two thousand three hundred years ago in the Warring States period and reached high development under the Han, when more than ten thousand lacquer pieces were unearthed locally. Continuing through Tang, Song, Ming and Qing, it is a major school of Chinese lacquer art.

The craft embraces many sub-techniques—mother-of-pearl inlay, carved lacquer, engraved-and-gilded lacquer, painted decoration and bone-and-stone inlay. From body-forming and lacquering to grinding and inlay, it demands repeated polishing through a long, elaborate sequence.

Yangzhou lacquerware entered the first national ICH list in 2006. A flagship of Huaiyang decorative art, it is of great value for the study of the history of Chinese lacquer.