ABSTRACT
THE art of working with lacquer is of great antiquity in Japan, and, like most processes practised in the country, was probably introduced from Corea or China; but the Japanese attribute the invention of most of their manufacturing processes to the former. The assertion that “ while the Japanese have invented nothing, they have improved upon everything that has come before their notice “ is fully borne out by the lacquer-work of the country. The Chinese certainly make lacquered wares, but in Japan the art has been brought to a degree of perfection unknown elsewhere; indeed, some of their low-relief work is modelled with a tenderness and delicacy quite equal to that of the best work of the great medalist, Wyon.
