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Pingyao polished lacquerware, 平遥推光漆器髹饰技艺, is a tradition of making and decorating lacquerware associated with Pingyao, Shanxi. The official exhibition account covers preparing wooden bodies, applying lacquer, decoration and polishing. Begin by observing an object’s form, surface decoration and final sheen separately.
What lies beneath the lacquer surface?
The same account mentions applying hemp and a ground layer to wooden bodies, drying in a dedicated chamber, and successive polishing. Looking at the lacquer also invites questions about the structure beneath it: a glossy finish does not explain the whole making process.
If an exhibition provides samples from different stages, first identify the object’s outline, then see how its surface changes. Record the materials and stages given on the labels. Do not work backwards from a finished photograph to invent recipes, drying times or a complete sequence. This is a viewing guide, not a making tutorial.
Notice raised forms, then ask how they were made
In a CCTV.com interview published on 14 July 2024, Xue Shengjin (薛生金) explains duigu zhaoqi (堆鼓罩漆): forms such as buildings and rocks can be built up in relief with a lacquer ground mixture, then decorated with gold. The report also describes using the palms for final polishing. These address different questions: one concerns raised decoration, the other surface finishing.
When viewing a work, distinguish actual relief from painted light and shade, then check its description. Do not automatically call every raised pattern duigu, or use sheen to decide whether an object was made entirely by hand.
A documented learning journey
The National Library of China’s profile of Xue Shengjin records that he entered the Pingyao Cultural Scenery Workshop (平遥文化布景社) to learn in 1953, then joined the Pingyao polished lacquerware factory in 1958 and studied with Qiao Quanyu (乔泉玉). The page states that its information is current to May 2025. We use it to understand a learning history, not as an announcement of courses, teaching or visits available today.
This record offers questions to pursue: which tasks did an apprentice encounter first, how did the teacher demonstrate them, and how did the learner receive feedback? The account does not answer each question, so this guide does not invent a curriculum for the people involved.
How can it be compared with Poyang lacquerware?
The Pingyao exhibition account highlights wooden-body preparation and polishing. The same official exhibition’s account of Poyang tuotai lacquerware (鄱阳脱胎漆器) lists stages involving moulding, cutting and joining the body, and describes several body materials. For comparison, look for specific explanations of how the form is established and how the body is treated.
This compares the emphasis of two local accounts. It does not mean Pingyao has only one kind of body or Poyang only one method, nor does it make Poyang’s craft a branch of the Pingyao project. For a particular object, rely on its own material and process records.
Read an object’s name in separate parts
The Pingyao exhibition page lists lacquer cabinets and chests among objects for use, and screens and lacquer paintings among display pieces. Its work titles also include terms for mother-of-pearl inlay, gold-painted decoration, peonies, paired phoenixes and jewellery boxes. When reading a name, look separately for an object’s form or use, its decorative method and its subject. They answer different questions.
For example, the title 螺钿镶嵌牡丹首饰盒 describes a jewellery box with peonies in mother-of-pearl inlay. Put “jewellery box” in an object column, “mother-of-pearl inlay” in a method column, and “peonies” in a subject column. This is a reading of a work’s title on the official page. It is not an identification of the physical object from an image, and supplies no additional dimensions, date or maker.
Now compare 描金牡丹首饰盒 on the same page: a jewellery box with gold-painted peonies. The words for the object and subject match, while the decorative method differs. This short exercise helps establish what to ask next, such as where the decorative material sits and how it joins the lacquer surface. A name offers a starting point for enquiry; consult the work’s description or maker for the answers.
Record use and display, too
When reading about lacquerware, first note whether it is described as a chest, cabinet, screen or lacquer painting. Then record which parts the exhibition actually lets you see: the front, back, interior or samples from stages of making. Leave unshown parts blank rather than treating one display angle as an account of the whole structure.
When comparing two works, separate “what it is used for” from “how it is decorated”. Two jewellery boxes provide a starting point for discussing differences in decoration; two different objects using one decorative method invite questions about how the decoration fits each form. This comparison begins with clear names, without requiring you to rank the works.
Which recognition record applies?
The State Council’s first national list includes 平遥推光漆器髹饰技艺, Pingyao polished lacquerware-making and decoration, as entry 401, project number Ⅷ-51, with Pingyao County, Shanxi Province, as the submitting area. The announcement is dated 20 May 2006 and bears reference 国发〔2006〕18号. Record the entry number and project number separately. This recognition does not certify any object offered for sale.
Continue with materials and making and organise your notes around what you saw, what the sources explain and what you still need to ask. If planning a visit, use the preparation guide to check current opening and booking information. The Flame Journal promotes cultural understanding and has no commercial relationships with the people or institutions discussed here.