Exhibition Time: July 9th, 2021 to October 12th, 2021

The lacquer craft is one of the oldest traditional handicrafts in China. An eight-thousand-year-old lacquer bow was discovered at the Kuahuqiao Site, and a seven-thousand-year-old lacquer bowl was unearthed at the Hemudu Site. Subsequently, through the continuous development of lacquer craftsmanship techniques over the generations, the variety of lacquerware has become increasingly rich. To this day, it is still produced with luxurious and subtle qualities. The cultural and economic power of the Qing Dynasty provided a solid foundation for the development of court lacquerware, while the Qianlong Emperor's fondness for the art form gave it an extra boost. Departments like the Imperial Household Department of the Qing Dynasty and the Suzhou Weaving Department were responsible for the production of lacquerware for the imperial court. Emperor Qianlong personally supervised and made explicit requirements, resulting in a wide variety of lacquerware, with its craftsmanship mainly including plain lacquering, embossed decoration, carving, and inlaying. Among them, the art of carved lacquer was especially prolific due to the Emperor’s favor.

The Palace Museum houses over 18,000 sets of lacquerware, with the largest proportion being from the Qing Dynasty, especially the Qianlong period, serving as an important component of the lacquerware collection. The exhibition “The Splendor of Qianlong Lacquerware – The Exhibition from the Collection of the Palace Museum” has carefully selected over 100 lacquerware pieces from the Palace Museum’s collection, divided into five sections based on the type of craftsmanship used in their making, with the aim of representing the beauty and characteristics of lacquerware at that time.