Materials · Material
天然漆 tiānrán qī
Natural lacquer
Natural East Asian lacquer is tree sap that cures into a hard, lustrous film under controlled warmth and humidity.
“Lacquer” can describe a material, a surface tradition or simply a glossy commercial finish. This archive reserves natural lacquer for sap-based films and records synthetic finishes separately when an object can be examined.
Fresh sap can cause severe skin reactions. Material identification belongs in trained conservation or workshop settings, not in destructive home tests.
Related records
Sources and further reading
- The influence of East Asian lacquer on European furniture, Victoria and Albert Museum.Lacquer-tree sap as the defining East Asian material and its export context