What is red lacquer?
What is red lacquer?
Carved lacquer, which is predominantly red, is often known as “cinnabar” lacquer, a reference to the use of this powdered mercury sulphide as the primary colorant. Like all lacquer objects, carved pieces have a base that is usually made of turned wood: it is the lacquer that is worked and not the underlying material.
What is red lacquer made of?
Pigments. Traditionally vermilion (mercuric sulphide, HgS) is added to produce the red lacquer. Vermilion is obtained by grinding and levigating (a process of fractional sedimentation) the mineral cinnabar or synthetically by combining the elements mercury and sulphur.
What is Chinese lacquer?
East Asian lacquer is a resin made from the highly toxic sap of the Rhus verniciflua tree, which is native to the area and a close relative of poison ivy. Raw lacquer is collected annually by extracting the viscous sap through notches cut into the trees. It is gently heated to remove excess moisture and impurities.
Is cinnabar Chinese or Japanese?
Cinnabar is often used to describe a Chinese style of carved, vermilion-colored lacquer. However, cinnabar is actually the name of a red mineral, a form of mercury(II) sulfide, used to dye the lacquer.
What is Japanese lacquer made from?
Urushi tree
Real Japanese lacquer is an organic substance made from the sap of the Urushi tree (Rhus verniciflua). The sap is collected by scratching the tree and is then refined and aged. In Japanese, the lacquer itself is called “Urushi”, and lacquer ware is called “Shikki (lacquer ware)” or “Nurimono (painted things)”.
How do you paint Chinese lacquer furniture?
Apply a Primer Pull out the drawers and remove any drawer pulls, then sand the lacquer a bit to give it some grip for the primer. Clean the dresser to remove all dust. Apply a coat of primer, then wait for it to dry. Paint the dresser with your colored paint.
How can you tell real cinnabar?
If you have a magnifying glass look for a ‘grain’ pattern in any cuts that run diagonally from the surface down, because real cinnabar is made up of layers of lacquer built up one on top of the other. Signs of plastic are moulding lines, lack of toolmarks, bubbles in the decoration.
