Lacquer is beautiful. It is a unique and rare product of a sumptuous, almost decadent society. Appreciate it firstly for its beauty and rarity, but let it lead you further, into the fascinating mazes of an exotic culture.

As no object of art evolves but from the time and culture in which it is set, an understanding of the historical and sociological milieux of an art form always adds to one's overall appreciation of an individual piece. for although appreciation of art is perhaps primarily aesthetic, form this first level we may choose to move to others less obvious and in doing so, ultimately approach the role of the true connoisseur.

Although introduced by the Chinese, it was the Japanese who developed the art of lacquer into the sprinkled picture, a form which despite many visits to Japanese workshops, the Chinese never mastered, and one which remains uniquely Japanese.

In Japan as early as 600 A.D., raw lacquer was accepted in lieu of taxes and specially commissioned pieces were presented as gifts and rewards. Emperor Mommu Tenno decreed the compulsory planting of lacquer trees. Its earliest applications were in architecture and religious objects. The earliest piece of lacquer to be dated with any degree of accuracy is the famous Tamamushi Shrine from the 7th Century AD, so called because of the use of the colourful wings of the Tamamushi beetle. There is, however, still some academic debate as to whether the shrine is Japanese or Korean.