Japanese lacquer show opens Sept. 1 at Elvehjem

One of the most elegant and diverse assemblages of Japanese lacquers outside of Japan will be on display at the Elvehjem Museum of Art Sept. 1-Nov. 11.

In much the same way that fine, high-fired ceramics have always been associated with China in the Western consciousness, the Japanese have long been credited with bringing the art of lacquer to its highest technical and aesthetic development. Despite early European infatuation with this sumptuous medium, the history of Japanese lacquer is not a subject well represented in many Western museums.

The exhibition “Symbol and Substance: The Elaine Ehrenkranz Collection of Japanese Lacquer Boxes” includes 56 Japanese lacquer boxes. “True” lacquer, or urushi, is derived from the sap of a deciduous tree native originally to China and perhaps Korea and Japan.

The plant is a member of the Anacardiaceae family that also includes poison oak, poison ivy and poison sumac, and thus at any stage of the harvesting, refining or lacquer-making process, contact with (or even the scent of fumes from) urushi can cause an allergic reaction in individuals who are sensitive.

Consequently, anyone who works with raw lacquer must inoculate themselves through exposure to small amounts of this potentially toxic substance to build up a tolerance. Once hardened, however, the finished lacquer surface becomes completely inert and causes no adverse effect even when used as tableware.

True lacquer appears to have first been developed in China during the Neolithic period, around 5000-4000 B.C. The earliest Japanese artifacts that show evidence of lacquer are ceramic vessels, wooden objects, basketwork and articles of personal adornment. By 645 A.D., lacquer had become so fundamental to the workings of the court, its elaborate Buddhist rituals and the Japanese economy as a whole, that aristocrats were mandated by law to plant lacquer trees on their property and pay part of their taxes in urushi.

Beginning around 710 and building momentum during the late Heian period through 1185, Japanese artists invented and developed a new form of lacquer decoration called maki-e, which produced designs of great depth and luminosity, and completely transformed the course of Japanese art.

Japanese maki-e artists produced bold, harmonious graphic designs of great precision and beauty on such lacquered surfaces as architectural fittings, carriages, saddles, armor, weapons, items of personal adornment and, especially, on lovingly crafted wooden boxes. The Elaine Ehrenkranz Collection boasts important examples of maki-e, including a Long Scroll Box of the Muromachi period (1392-1568).

During the past three decades, painter Elaine Ehrenkranz formed a remarkable and representative collection of Japanese lacquer boxes. She assembled a group of lacquers ranging from the mid-14th though mid-19th century.

The 1996 gift of the Elaine Ehrenkranz Collection of Japanese Lacquer Boxes to Harvard University Art Museums provided high-quality material for display and study, both in Cambridge, Mass. and through the travels of this exhibition.

Related programs

• Friday, Sept. 7, 5 p.m., L160 Elvehjem Anne Rose Kitagawa, curator, “The Substance Beneath the Symbols: Lacquer in Japanese History.”
• Friday, Sept. 7, 6-8 p.m., Paige Court Free public reception with live music and refreshments.
• Wednesday, Sept. 19, 5:30 p.m., L140 Elvehjem Learn about Japanese lacquer in “Continuity in Craftsmanship: Lacquerware in Tohoku, Japan,” a 30-minute film courtesy the Japan Society, and “Lacquer: Wajima Ware,” a 25-minute video courtesy Siglo Ltd. and Diamond Press.
• Thursday, Oct. 11, 5:30 p.m., L140 Elvehjem Slide-lecture by art history professor Quitman E. Phillips, “Symbol and Surface: Painting and Craft Decoration in Edo Japan.”