漆器Urushi lacquerware

Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, miscellaneous lacquered small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer. Before lacquering, the surface is sometimes painted with pictures, inlaid with shell and other materials, or carved. The lacquer can be dusted with gold or silver for example Hirameji and given further decorative treatments.

East Asian countries have long traditions of lacquer work, going back several thousand years in the cases of China, Japan and Korea. The best known lacquer, sometimes referred to as 'true' lacquer, is an urushiol-based lacquer common in East Asia. It is obtained from the dried sap of the lacquer tree, Toxicodendron vernicifluum.

Other types of lacquers are processed from a variety of plants and insects. The traditions of lacquer work in Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Americas are also ancient and originated independently. Attempts to imitate 'true' lacquer of East Asia, such as Japanning in Europe, are often loosely referred to as "imitation lacquer."

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