Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

hiramaki-e, lacquer, maki-e, nashiji, takamaki-e, togidashi, togidashi maki-e

• hiramaki-e

  (‘flat sprinkled design’) coloured or metal powders sprinkled onto a wet lacquer ground and usually covered with a protective layer of lacquer

• lacquer

  Chinese and Japanese lacquer is made from the sap of the lacquer tree, which is indigenous to Eastern China. It is applied to wood as a varnish or for decorative effect. In India and the Middle East, lacquer is made from the deposit of the lac insect.

• maki-e

  (‘sprinkled design’) generic term for lacquer decoration using powdered metals sprinkled onto wet lacquer to create a design

• nashiji

  (‘pear skin ground’) tiny, irregularly shaped flakes of gold embedded in amber coloured wet lacquer and then polished to a fine sheen

• takamaki-e

  (high relief sprinkled design’) makie technique in which parts of the design are built up with lacquer mixed with charcoal or clay dust

• togidashi

  Technique in which the design in metal powders sprinkled over damp lacquer, is permitted to harden, then entirely covered with lacquer and finally after hardening, polished with abrasives to re-expose the design.

• togidashi maki-e

  (‘sprinkled designs revealed by polishing’) a type of makie in which the sprinkled design is covered with lacquer that is then polished away so that the design reappears flush with the surface