In his just published report to the foreign office, her Majesty's consul at Yokohama gives some interesting information respecting the preparation of lacquer-ware in Japan. Some Japanese, he says, give
a. d. 724 as the date when the art of lacquering was first discovered, but those among them who have given attention to the subject fix the date as
a. d. 889 or 900. It would appear to have attained to some perfection in 1290, for the name of a distinguished painter in lacquer at that time is still handed down as the founder of a particular school of art in lacquer-painting. Having described the manner in which the lacquer-varnish is obtained, Mr. Robertson gives some details of the mode in which designs in lacquer are worked. "The first thing," he says, "is to trace out on the thinnest of paper the required pattern or design, and the tracing is then gone over with a composition of lacquer-varnish and vermilion, afterwards laid on whatever it is proposed to impart the design to … and well rubbed over with a bamboo spatula." The outline thus left "is now gone over with a particular kind of soft lacquer-varnish. When this industry is pursued in hot weather the varnish speedily dries, and consequently where the pattern is a good deal involved . … a small portion only is executed at one time, and the gold powder, which enters largely into most of the lacquer-ware for the foreign market, is applied to each part as it is being executed. For this a large and very soft brush is used, and by its aid the gold powder is well rubbed in with the lacquer or varnish. The work is then left to dry for about twenty-four hours, after which the pattern is lightly rubbed over with charcoal made from a particular kind of wood, this process securing evenness of surface. The work is next rubbed with polishing powder, and afterwards carefully wiped." After all this outlining has been done "there still remains a good deal of finishing work, such as the tracing of leaves on trees, the petals of flowers, the wings of birds, etc. … Into all this gold powder enters, the working-in of which requires a light brush and a skilful hand … After this has well dried, a particular kind of lacquer-varnish, known as
yoshimô urushi, is well rubbed in, and the whole then polished with horn-dust. The polishing process is done with the finger, and is continued until the gold-glitter shows out well."
Academy.
M. Bertrand (Revue Archéologique, September), gives an account of a very remarkable discovery of antiquities at Graeckwyl in the canton of Berne, in 1851. Two tumuli were opened, one of them yielding a bronze vase — with ornaments in relief and in the round on the neck and handles — of which an engraving accompanies the article. It is certainly curious, as M. Bertrand remarks, that a vase which from the artistic character of its ornaments can only be compared with Etruscan work, or better still with the gold ornaments from Camirus in Rhodes (in the British Museum and in the Louvre), should be found in the district of Berne, because it is not supposed that much of what is called civilization had reached that quarter till Roman times, whereas the Camirus gold ornaments, which are exact counterparts of those on the Graeckwyl vase, can be confidently assigned to the seventh century B.C. Perhaps the more archaic works of this kind are studied, the more it will be found that they prevail in the Greek islands — see, for instance, as to vases and terra-cottas, the guide-books to the first and second vase-rooms of the British Museum. From this evidence such objects could be traced to a period of activity in maritime trade which might readily have attracted patrons or traders from even higher regions of Europe than Berne.