Polish a rhinoceros bead yourself and learn about the lacquer craft

Course Information

【Manager】Deng Huzang

【Studio】Qiyue Lacquerware

[Participation age] 6 years old and above

[Course Introduction] Polish a rhino skin lacquer bead by yourself. Combined with the rope braiding technique, make a unique necklace or pendant for yourself.

【Cost】168 yuan (you can take the work away after it is completed)

[Key Skills] Polishing, polishing, and rope braiding

[Experience duration] 1-2 hours

China is a country of porcelain, silk, tea, and lacquer. Lacquer is a natural product of China because of its excellent and unparalleled performance. Lacquer is cut from the lacquer tree like the blood of the lacquer tree, and then painted on the objects with the craftsmanship of generations. The two journeys of a drop of lacquer took nearly ten thousand years.

Rhinoceros skin lacquer is the most advanced decorative technique in traditional Chinese lacquer art with the fewest surviving works. It is a well-deserved Chinese treasure. Rhinoceros skin lacquerware has the ultimate beauty. Its surface is smooth, the color is bright, the texture is beautiful, and the process is complicated.

The method of making rhinoceros skin lacquer is to first use raw lacquer to make a sticky lacquer, and then apply it to the body of the vessel to make an uneven surface. After the vessel coated with thick lacquer is placed in a cool place to dry thoroughly, multiple layers of lacquer of different colors are applied layer by layer. Depending on the different techniques, the lacquer layers can be as high as thirty layers. The lacquer layers of various colors are alternated, and after the whole body is smoothed, the surface of the vessel is smooth, but because the lacquer layers of different colors are originally uneven, after smoothing, a pattern similar to pine scales is formed. The lines are smooth like flowing clouds and water, and the colors are brilliant and varied, which is very beautiful.

One of the explanations for rhinoceros skin paint: imitating horse saddles

Rhinoceros skin is also written as "Xipi" and "Xibi". The origin of the name of rhinoceros skin lacquer is very complicated. There are many records about it in history. There are records about the origin of rhinoceros skin lacquer in the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. Most of the people who recorded rhinoceros skin lacquer were literati, but after the Ming Dynasty, it was mainly lacquer workers. In recording such a document, literati played a decisive role, and lacquer workers played a technical role, so their records should be said to be relatively true.

There was a man named Zhao Lin in the Tang Dynasty. He believed that rhinoceros skin lacquer was invented by the Han people after getting inspiration from the saddles in the Western Regions. This statement was quoted by Tao Zongyi in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. In his "Chu Geng Lu", he quoted Zhao Lin's "Yin Hua Lu": "The reason why Xipi lacquerware is called Xipi is that people mistakenly think it is the rhinoceros horn, but it is not. It is the Western saddle, which changes from black to red, and from red to yellow, and changes from time to time, with five colors overlapping. The stirrups are rubbed and have concave places, which form patterns, so lacquerware is used to imitate them." Lacquerware is lacquerware. The meaning of this paragraph is: In the past, it was believed that the rhinoceros in rhinoceros skin lacquer refers to the rhinoceros horn, but it is not. It refers to the position where the saddle and the stirrup are adjacent, which is constantly rubbed and has concave places, revealing layers of colors. The lacquer craftsmen imitated the rhinoceros skin lacquer based on this naturally formed pattern. This is the understanding of people in the Tang Dynasty.

Explanation of rhino skin paint 2: rhino’s belly button

People in the Ming Dynasty had another theory. There was a scholar named Du Mu in the Ming Dynasty. He recorded it in "Tingyu Ji Tan" as follows: "Rhinoceros skin should be called Xipi, and Pi means navel. Rhinoceros skin is hard and has patterns. The patterns on the four sides of its navel are like Taotie facing each other. There is a round hole in the middle. It is polished when sitting or lying down, and the color is very smooth. People in the Western Regions cut it and use it as a belt decoration. ... Later lacquerware imitated it and took its name." Du Mu believed that this kind of lacquerware should be called "Xipi", which has the same pronunciation as "Xipi", but with different characters. He explained that the word "Pi" means navel. The skin of rhinoceros is very hard. When sitting or lying down, the navel is rubbed on the ground to be very smooth, with layers of patterns, like Taotie patterns. We often see Taotie patterns on bronze ware. Therefore, people in the Western Regions often cut off the navel of rhinoceros and make it into a kind of decoration in the middle of the belt. Later craftsmen made rhinoceros skin lacquer based on the appearance of rhinoceros navel.

The special feature of rhino skin paint is the polishing process. Polishing is the process of making the texture appear. At first, the dots around the embankment are like bean spots. As the polishing deepens, the dots will gradually expand. Layers of paint will begin to show circles of textures along the shape of the embankment. These circles and lines continue to expand outwards and connect together to form ever-changing lines and patterns. This process is the most exciting.

coarse grinding

Fine grinding

Push light

With rope

Some records of polishing rhino beads: