2. Covered Box

When considering these invertebrates of the phylum Arthropoda, few laypersons look beyond the segmented body, jointed limbs, and sometimes fatal strike of scorpions, or the multi-legged, serpentine fear induced by centipedes. Barbed visions of toxicity and death - along with a most unfortunate collective societal revulsion for skittering creatures strongly resistant to delightful anthropomorphization - have obscured the underpinnings of relevant dialogue regarding numerous aesthetic (figs 3 and 4), structural, functional, physiological, and chemical parallels between Chinese lacquer and arthropods-art and science inextricably bound.

In conjuring ingenious artistry in homage to the biological, the majority of the lacquers presently discussed were recently on view in the superbly discriminating exhibition, Masterpieces of Chinese Lacquer from the Mike Healy Collection , which ran from September 15- December 3, 2005 at the China Institute Gallery in New York City . Healy's two decade long collecting passion is evident in his choice of each consummately executed piece-thirty-one objects in all-from the richly articulated textures and patterns of Yuan dynasty black lacquer boxes inlaid with mother-of-pearl, to the swirling formal tixi scrollwork, floral patterns and sophisticated narrative scenes of Ming dynasty carved lacquer. Yet the sumptuous Lychee Box (fig 5), with its refined use of multiple carved patterns to create remarkable depth in the fruit on top and lush, masterfully delineated pomegranate flowers on bottom, once emerged from the dangerous and raw.

Ironically, the innate venomousness of many arthropods can also be found lurking beneath lacquer's elegant skin; sleek perfection and exquisite sheen of finished objects-plates, covered boxes, cup stands, and screens-belies the inherent toxicity of lacquer in its raw state, highly poisonous to those handling the latex, a viscous liquid which, when tapped, trickles from gashes cut into the bark of lacquer trees, “by far the most important being Rhus verniciflua , a native of China” [1] . Severe dermatitis results from contact with the component urushiol [2] (from urushi , the Japanese name for lacquer). Curiously enough, the antedote to lacquer poisoning, similar in chemical properties to the laccols in poison ivy and certain types of mushrooms, was discovered by the ancient Chinese-noted in early medieval Chinese alchemical texts-in the curative tissues of crabs and other shell fish.

Yet it is precisely the process of polymerization by which lacquer is transformed from a toxic liquid to a benign solid that invites comparison with the arthropod cuticle (exoskeleton). Laid down over a seamlessly constructed wooden (utilized most often) base in one to two hundred exactly uniform layers (in the finest Ming dynasty pieces) of inconceivable thinness-building up the remarkable half inch depth necessary for the most refined carving-the lacquer must have oxygen to set properly, and will not set in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide or nitrogen; it is precisely this necessity for oxygen to enable polymerization which both dictates and limits the methodology and manufacture of carved lacquer by craftsmen of this period.

6. Cuticle of a geophilomorph

As lacquer craftsmen always built up layers beginning from the base surface and progressing upwards-utterly divergent from the typical methodologies of Western sculptors, who fabricated ornament and modeled clay by fluid, external additions and deletions of material-so this process is reflected in nature by the formation of the arthropod cuticle, which is typically formed by the epidermal cell layer, which is beneath the existing cuticle; successive layers are created below the existing cuticle, with each new layer displacing the previous one upwards. [3] For lucidity in visualizing this fascinating but hidden similitude, one can turn to the excellent diagrams of transverse cuticle sections of a “Soil Centipede”, Haplophilus subterraneus, (fig 6) a centipede discussed in J.G.E. Lewis's The Biology of Centipedes and Randy Mercurio's transmission electron micrograph (fig 7 by Randy Mercurio, Scientific Assistant and Arachnologist/Myriapodologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City) of a related centipede cuticle magnified 16,600 times (the original diameter of the whole body of the worm-like centipede is only a few millimeters).

7. Black and White electron micrograph

One of the most lucid Western historical accounts of the tribulations of eighteenth century lacquerers frustrated by layers of lacquer that would not set correctly, was written by Père d'Incarville, a Jesuit priest and esteemed botanist who resided in Peking for seventeen years and nurtured an abiding passion for lacquer manufacture. Attesting to the necessity for the thinnest possible application of lacquer layers, d'Incarville wrote, prior to his death in 1757, to the Academy of Sciences in Paris : “The oxygen comes from the air and is not able to penetrate far into the layer, so that the layer has to be very thin if the lacquer is to set properly. If the layer is too thick a skin forms on the outside and the inside remains liquid. Then there is no remedy but to remove the layer and start afresh.” [4]

According to the late Chinese lacquer scholar, Sir Harry Garner, discussing the nature of lacquer and distribution of lacquer trees in his seminal, posthumously published work, Chinese Lacquer , “measurements of sections of Ming lacquer show that the thickness of individual layers is of the order of 0.03 mm or less”. [5]

8. Diagrammatic representation of the cuticle of Hadrurus arizonensis

Correlating in near perfect tandem with nature, mathematical comparisons can be readily drawn to the thickness of a scorpion cuticle (layer), employing the invaluable expertise of Randy Mercurio, who studies scorpions and centipedes, arachnids and myriapods, respectively. Utilizing a micrometer-an instrument for measuring minute distances, especially with a finely threaded screw-readings have been published for these two scorpion cuticles: 0.045 mm (1 mm=1,000 micrometers) for the Euscorpius italicus cuticle (layer) and 0.100 mm for the Hadrurus arizonensis cuticle (layer) (fig 8 and 9). [6] Bearing in mind the 0.03 mm Ming lacquer thickness, visualization of analogous layers may be honed to an ever sharper point by additional comparative micrometer readings of similar materials taken by Mercurio specifically for this article; white Hammermill 20 lb. typing paper is 0.10 mm thick, while Japanese rice paper reads 0.04 mm, and tracing paper hits the lacquer mark dead on at a perfectly synchronous 0.03 mm.

9. Electron Micrograph of a scorpion cuticle

Rivaling the consistent thinness of lacquer layers in structural importance and ultimate cohesion is the vital presence of humidity in the drying process (with each layer taking up to forty-eight hours to dry), emblematic of the curious and often confounding properties of lacquer. Whether it is the Chinese use of a “cave” in the ground to enshroud lacquer wares in moist night air, or the Japanese tradition of “damp boxes, or chambers”, it has been determined over centuries of trial and error that “the hardening process which is so essential to every stage in the preparation of lacquer-ware is expedited and perfected by the presence of moisture; and one may say with truth that the lacquer dries in a moist atmosphere.” [7]

Correspondingly, the purpose of an arthropod's cuticle is to retain water, as some arthropods are subject to the deleterious effects of low humidity-such as those living in desert environments, like the “Arizona Desert Hairy Scorpion” ( Hadrurus arizonensis ) and “Giant Desert Centipede” ( Scolopendra heros ). If a scorpion or centipede is severely dehydrated while molting, the molting process can become problematic and sometimes terminal-or can result in deformation.[8]

10. Round, Straight-edged Box

Paralleling the injurious effects of arthropod dehydration, lacquer which is not properly set in peak humidity will deform in the carving process, nullifying the efforts of even the most skilled human hand to cut precise, smooth lines and clean angles, particularly in “marbled” lacquer, in which the lacquer is applied to a smooth surface in bands of different colors which are exposed by carving at an angle to the surface-a beautiful example of which is China Institute's carved red and black lacquer (tixi) Round, Straight-edged Box, (fig 10).

Even in death, buried away from appreciative eyes of the living in early Chinese tombs, lacquer must exist in uniform conditions of both temperature and humidity. Destruction of artifacts through centuries of fluctuating subterranean atmosphere has produced legions of decomposed wooden bases to which the lacquer was generally applied, “such that there was nothing left but an earth impression covered with a thin skin of lacquer or, worse still, only the skin itself”. [9] As in molting scorpions, their living interior is gone, and the exuvium, or cast exoskeleton-like a ghost image of the organism-is left behind.

11. Mississippian Sea Bottom

12. Smoking box

13. Elderly Warrior Mask

In stark contrast to the fascinating decrepitude of lacquer failing in cohesion and structure, are the multitudes of pristine lacquer objects preserved as iced humanity in suspended animation-in near cryogenic perfection. One glorious example of lacquer's potential for an eternally elegant afterlife is the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's Smoking box (tabako-bon) (Fig 12), featured in the museum's extraordinarily eclectic exhibition, Yinka Shonibare Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection , on view in New York City from October 7, 2005-May 7, 2006. Soldier in the permanent collection's outstanding army of 250,000 objects straddling twenty-three centuries, this resplendent masterpiece of lacquer craftsmanship is a magnum opus of sailboats and cranes, writhing pines and dragon's breath waves-rendered in myriad patterns employing multiple techniques, such as simulated wood grain planks, gold raised lacquer (takamakie), and maki-e, gold sprinkled across the fathomless skin of a black lacquer sky.