Lacquer.Japan derived the art of lacquering from China (probably about the beginning of the 6th century), but she ultimately carried it far beyond Chinese conception.
Numerous operations of luting, sizing, lacquering, polishing, drying, rubbing down, and so on, are performed by the nurimono-shi, until, after many days treatment, the object emerges with a smooth, lustrelike dark-grey or colored surface, and is ready to pass into the hands of the makie-shi, or decorator.
For ornamental work lacquering divides favour with colouring - sometimes done with coloured lacquers, but often with chemical colourings, of which the copper and iron salts are the chief basis.
