At the ongoing ancient lacquerware exhibition at the Suzhou Museum, Jiangsu province, one particular piece commands attention: executed in black lacquer and richly ornamented with carved lacquer motifs and mother-of-pearl inlay, the incense stand is supported on four gently outward-curving legs.
At the center of its base, Village Dwelling, a poem attributed to Li Bai (701-762), one of the most worshiped poets of ancient China, is rendered in shimmering mother-of-pearl. Above, the tabletop is carved with a pictorial scene that echoes the poem's imagery, both likely derived from the illustrations and verse in the Tangshi Huapu (Illustrated Anthology of Tang Poetry), first printed in China during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
"The piece speaks as much to its patron's devotion to Chinese poetry — above all to Li Bai — as to the refinement of the lacquer craftsmanship of Japan, where it was made during the Edo period (17th-19th centuries)," says Xi Zhe, the exhibition's curator.
"Somewhat amusing, if not ironic, is that the patron, who likely worked from a copy of the book transmitted to Japan, would have had no idea that its compiler had made a significant error in attributing the poem to Li Bai, which we have identified in light of what is known about the transmission of his poetry across the centuries," Xi continues. "However, this does nothing to diminish the value of the piece as a testament to Japan's historical enthusiasm for Chinese literature and lacquerware."
Li Bai lived during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). And for those who might question the extent of Tang's influence on its neighbor, the exhibition presents a telling example: a red lacquer tray accompanied by a paper document identifying it, in Xi's words, as an "authenticated Tang treasure".
"The appraisal was conducted in Japan on an object believed to have been transmitted from China, presumably by individuals with the requisite expertise," Xi notes. "Such a designation would have conferred considerable value upon the piece."
According to Xi, lacquer techniques were first introduced to Japan from China within the first few centuries AD, and were more fully absorbed and developed during the Asuka and Nara periods (6th–8th centuries), a span that broadly corresponds to the Tang Dynasty.
In this, they bear witness to a long continuum of cultural and artistic exchanges across East Asia, one that also encompassed the transmission of Buddhism and the practices of tea preparation and consumption, closely intertwined with the rise of Chan Buddhism in China and its subsequent development in Japan, where it came to be known as Zen.
