A key consequence of the western discovery of sixteenth-century Japan was the emergence of workshops producing lacquerware for the European market. As with East Asian porcelain, Japanese lacquer quickly became an absolute must-have, its gold-on-black pictorial schemes enriching the sumptuous interiors of the aristocratic and wealthy. The Mazarin Chest, which was made in Kyoto in the late 1630s to early 1640s and has belonged to the Victoria and Albert Museum since 1882, is the largest and most spectacular survivor of this specialist industry. Since 2003 it has been the focus of a major research and conservation project involving curators, conservators and scientists in the UK, Germany, Japan and Poland. The main outcomes of this and related research, initially presented at an international conference held at the V&A*, are published in this discipline-defining compilation of twenty-one papers.
The recognition, acceptance and negotiation of cultural differences have been core concerns of the Mazarin Chest Project. It is for this reason that this title is published in English and Japanese: the English edition as hard copy with the Japanese digital version included on a DVD.
This title has been published in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum.
*Conference entitled: Crossing Borders: The Conservation, Science and Material Culture of East Asian Lacquer
Foreword
List of Contributors
Material Culture
Out of touch: on the sensorial in the historical interpretation of Japanese lacquer
Christine M.E. Guth
Maritime trade in Asia and the circulation of lacquerware
Kaori Hidaka
How many 'Mazarin Chests' were there?
Julia Hutt
Two boxes and two balustrades: private orders for fine Japanese export lacquer
Cynthia Viallé
Japanese lacquer in eighteenth-century Europe: status and value - market price of craftsmanship and the canon of the grand arts
Monika Bincsik
Maki-e production of the Mid-Edo period as seen through historical European collections
Meiko Nagashima
Science and Conservation
Developing a methodology for the artificial ageing of urushi and a preliminary examination of urushi-based conservation options
Brenda Keneghan
Solvent effects on East Asian lacquer (Toxicodendron vernicifluum)
Carolyn McSharry, Rupert Faulkner, Shayne Rivers, Milo S.P. Shaffer and Tom Welton
Stress measurement in East Asian lacquer thin films due to changes in relative humidity using phase shifting interferometry
Adel E. Elmahdy, Pablo D. Ruiz, Ricky D. Wildman, Jonathan M. Huntley and Shayne Rivers
A methodology for modelling the mechanical response of lacquer (urushi) under varying environmental conditions
Xinyi Liu, Adel E. Elmahdy, Ian A. Ashcroft and Ricky D. Wildman
New evidence for the use of Southeast Asian raw materials in seventeenth-century Japanese export lacquer
Arlen Heginbotham and Michael Schilling
Delamination and flaking of East Asian export lacquer coatings on wood substrates
Nanke Schellmann
Construction methods of Japanese writing boxes (suzuribako)
Stacy Bowe and Blythe McCarthy
The effects of consolidation on the appearance of powdery pigmented Japanese lacquer surfaces
Catherine Coueignoux
The autofluorescence of Asian lacquer
Marianne Webb
Japanese lacquered armour in context: cross-sectional analysis as an aid for appraisal
Jamie Hood
An investigation into the cleaning of red lacquer (urushi)
Emma Schmuecker
The French connection: developing a conservation treatment plan for eighteenth-century Chinese lacquer panels adapted for an American Beaux Arts-style house
Charles J. Moore
A cornucopia of carving techniques: an analysis and treatment of a Qing dynasty lacquered screen
Suzanna Shaw
Light-induced deterioration of urushi, maki-e and nashiji decoration
Yoshihiko Yamashita and Shayne Rivers
Conservation of the photodegraded surface of the Mazarin Chest
Yoshihiko Yamashita and Shayne Rivers
