Dry Lacquer

A history in
objects and texts.

历史与文化:从记载到存世作品

Surviving sculpture, archaeological finds and written accounts tell different parts of this history. Read them together, with attention to what each can establish.

Early lacquer traditions

A broader material history

Textile-supported lacquerware forms part of the background to later sculpture. Early lacquer use alone does not date the beginnings of dry-lacquer Buddhist images.

早期漆器与织物胎技术提供背景,不能直接当作干漆佛像的起源年代。

Explore the evidence ↗
4th-century accounts

Images known through later texts

Later accounts describe five portable images associated with Dai Kui. Their construction is interpreted from the texts; the images themselves do not survive.

后世文献记载戴逵制作五尊可移动造像。作品已不存世,结构判断来自文献解释。

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c. 590

A surviving wooden-core Buddha

The Walters Buddha provides an identifiable early example whose internal construction has been studied.

Walters 佛像将早期历史与可观察、可检测的实物联系起来。

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7th–8th centuries

Early Chinese dry-lacquer sculpture

The Met Buddha and Cleveland bodhisattva show surviving forms of the technique. Technical and conservation studies add evidence beyond their visible surfaces.

Met 佛像与 Cleveland 菩萨像提供存世实例;技术与修复研究补充表面之外的信息。

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Late 14th–15th century

A later Guanyin

The Walters Guanyin is catalogued to this later period. Its hollow structure provides a useful comparison with earlier sculpture.

Walters 观音依现有馆藏记录采用这一年代,可与早期造像比较。

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2006

Tiantai heritage designation

The Tiantai Mountain dry-lacquer and ramie craft entered China’s first national intangible cultural heritage list as project VIII-53.

天台山干漆夹苎技艺列入第一批国家级非物质文化遗产名录,项目编号Ⅷ-53。

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Buddhist sculpture.

Many surviving examples depict Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Their identities, poses and decoration belong to particular religious and artistic settings. The Met’s identification as Amitabha remains qualified as “probably”.

造像的身份、姿态与装饰应结合具体作品理解。Met 的佛像保留“可能为阿弥陀佛”的判断。

Look at the figures

Across East Asia.

Chinese and Japanese lacquer sculpture can be studied through objects, workshop practices and Buddhist exchange. Their histories involve several routes and periods of contact.

东亚交流可从存世造像、工坊实践与佛教往来展开。现有资料不足以将技艺传播归于唯一人物。

Lacquer and Buddhist Sculpture in East Asia ↗