Gold Lacquer

Gold Lacquer

If you are looking for a outstanding alto sax at an lowpriced price, you have found it in the Conductor Model 300 alto saxophone. The Conductor brand of instruments from The Instrument Store are top quality student instruments which are approved by teachers and used in schools and band programs all around the country. We trade them without “the middleman” which provides a vast savings for our customers. We warranty all of the Conductor instruments for one full year so you don’t have to worry with regards to your purchase. Each instrument comes with a full 30 day “unconditional” cash back guarantee. Why buy a used instrument, when you may have a brand new one with a warranty? Our staff is the among the most helpful and welleducated in the musical instrument business. We service each instrument before shipping. The Conductor Model 300 alto sax is pretty gold lacquered alto sax and comes finish with a carrying case, mouthpiece, ligature, cap and neckstrap. The tone is great and it is an magnificent outfit for students of all ages.

Before I describe these distinguishable and pretty works of art, completely Japanese, I feel that you need to recognise more in regards to lacquer, the extraordinary medium that was used. Only then will you entirely be grateful for these brilliant creations.

For readers who are unfamiliar with old Japanese lacquer, I suspect you will be thinking of the typical innovative lacquer trays and bowls that are mass-produced. These items are very decorative, but exclusively fail to compare with the magnificent earlier hand made works.

From China to Japan
Lacquer is genuinely the sap from a tree known as ‘Rhus Vernicifera’. The Chinese were the original to discover and use it, at least a century before Christ, when it was used as a paint, and more oftentimes as a preservative. It was a very effective preservative, as galore pieces still subsist from as far back as the Han amount of time 206BC, when lacquer was very standard and in spacious use.

The earliest known Japanese lacquer dates back to in regards to the 7th Century, but it was not until the 14th and 15th century that the Japanese lacquer works became so much more decorative. By then they had refined and formulated particular techniques, far finer and more gorgeous than the Chinese lacquer that they had merely in the first place copied.

The Chinese had used shades of black, brown, yellow, green, and largely red or cinnabar Lacquer. They mainly favoured deep carving of the Lacquer, to form the decoration, and invented a good deal of outstanding work.

They often employed the colours in layers, so that once carved, these colours would be revealed. One peculiar technique is known as ‘Guri’ lacquer: the colours largely red and black were built up in layers, and then a geometric or symmetrical pattern would be carved with a deep `V’ shaped cut, so that all these alternating layers would be revealed within the cuts. The Chinese also painted, incised and inlaid lacquer with iridescent pieces of shell, but these works were cherished by the Japanese many times more so, than by the Chinese.

To commence with all these methods were copied, but by with regards to the 15th century the Japanese had become, justifiably, the unrivalled masters of the art!

Lacquer was, rather rightly, highly valued for it is lasting calibers and strength. A very high gloss could be achieved, proving impervious to alcohol, acids and hot liquids. It would likewise have appealed to the Zen Buddhism ideals of ‘Yin and Yang’, as Lacquer appears to be so delicately finelooking and light in weight. Yet, it is hard, impermeable and enduring.

The Preparation
It is a very difficult medium to work with, uncompromising, sticky, and time consuming. It had to be strained to remove any impurities, and gently heated to thicken, and evaporate any moisture content. All the time it had to be kept in a dust free environment, and added to these difficulties, in it is liquid form it gives off a toxicant gas! Strangely, it requires a damp humid atmosphere for it to harden.

It had to be employed in very thin layers, other than as supposed or expected it runs, and if too thick, will not harden at all but will just form a skin. After each layer had hardened, all the time in a dust free area, it was cautiously rubbed down before another layer would be added.

An intermediate piece consisted of a minimum of 30 layers, in order that there would not be a trace of the wood base, or on more spectacular pieces the hemp cloth employed in the early layers, to aid beef up the wood. The lacquer artisan would have taken over, only at this stage, to give rise to the decoration by the addition of yet even more layers.

The number of colours possible, due to chemical reactions with pigments and the composition of lacquer were limited. So lacquer artists were still restricted and blue was a very rare colour.

It was the Japanese that devised the idea and the proficiencies of adding gold and silver to liven up the decoration. Real gold and silver metals were applied in the form of foil, flakes, metal corpuscles of respective grades, as well as powders. All of these precious metals were brilliantly used to great advantage, particularly in the late 18th and early 19th century.

The sprinkling of gold or silver metal atoms had been employed before and over a very long period, to brighten up the interiors. Even very early Lacquer works have ‘Nashiji’ inside. This is where fine molecules of gold have merely been sprinkled in to the lacquer. Some were scattered unevenly, constructing cloud effects, whilst others varied in the density. However no pictures were formed.

Sprinkled, Not Painted!
In the 18th century they produced and refined the idea of sprinkled pictures, and these were used to great effect in what are known as ‘Togadashi’ pieces. They are without apparent effort identified, as the surface of the lacquer is always utterly smooth in togadashi work.

These designs and aweinspiring pictures were produced purely, by very skilfully pouring respective grades of fine metal and pigment powders on to the wet lacquer, so that they would sink in. There was no way of correcting any errors! Extra layers of the background colour, ordinarily black, would be added over the picture. Then by cautiously polishing down until the picture reappears, the top edges of the metal molecules would be made to glisten from the polish, providing splendor inconceivable to achieve any other way. The last very thin coats would be of the purest clear lacquer, supplying the mirror like high gloss finish.

Various shades of black were created, by charcoal mixed with dissimilar quantities of silver powder, so that they could even simulate painted brush strokes. These powders were mainly applied for black pictures on a gold background, that one would never imagine were produced by sprinkling techniques. What is also rather remarkable, is the very fine degree of control in shading that they were competent to achieve. This meant that far more sophisticated pictures could be created, than had ever been seen before.

There are three types of sprinkled picture proficiencies in all and Togadashi, already described, is my favourite! Another is ‘Hiramakie’, which is where rather a thickly sprinkled gold powder is used, and the lacquer is raised just a little above the background. As frequent the surface is polished and burnished, before the final clear layers, and has a very rich appearance. Lastly, there is ‘Takamakie’, which is again similar to Hiramakie, only it is in much higher relief. This thickness was achieved by building up and modelling the areas required in relief, with a combining of Lacquer and charcoal, before applying the gold powder layers.

Highlights of Pure Gold
Many Lacquer artists made use of a combining of these proficiencies in a piece of work. Just to further enrich these pictures, finely shaped tiny pieces of pure gold, so little that it is hard to imagine how they were handled, are on an individual basis applied near the final surface to give rise to highlights. Frequently these are incisively matched shapes, tiny squares or diamond pieces that are all so amazingly very accurately placed.

Togadashi Boxes
One of our favourite examples of this type of work in this collection is a fine Box that appears as two overlapping boxes. One shows the figure of the swordsmith forging the sword ‘Little Fox’, assisted by the Fox Spirit in the guise of a woman; the other has an overall design of a mass of gold and coloured flowers.

Looking closely at the gold centres of the flowers one may see how these consist of a number of very tiny shaped flakes of gold; each flake has been conservatively placed by hand.

It likewise has a marvellous fitted tray just in gold togadashi of three foxes running in a landscape with a genuinely dream like quality. The border of the tray is prettified in ‘Gyobu’, which is where each person flake of gold has likewise been positioned by hand, rather than sprinkled.

Another wondrous Box that is purely, fine togadashi, depicts a busy street market scene, and what more may I say, other than it is an great piece of work!

Neither of these boxes is signed, but they are nevertheless, of the finest quality. To see the photographs please use the link at the end of this article. These wondrous lacquer works feature on Japanese inro too (the subject of another article).

Modern Boxes
A word of warning when buying lacquer, it is important that the condition is both good and original. As there are now numerous cleverly repaired pieces on the market, expert counsel will have to always be obtained.

Fine lacquer is made even today, and there are sure living conventional lacquer artists who are held in very high respect in Japan. So much so, that a good deal of have been indicated as ‘Living National Treasures’, and their contemporary hand made Lacquer work is in high demand and exceedingly expensive.

I have seen an example, at a Lacquer study weekend held at the V & A museum. A noteworthy modern box that combined thick clear Perspex with black Lacquer in a geometric design that actually was very dramatic. Personally I still prefer the earlier works and for the cost of this innovative box a very good collection could be formed!

Gold Lacquer Photo

Gold Lacquer Pic

Gold Lacquer Photo

Gold Lacquer Picture

Most helpful client reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
Best possible buy for beginners!
By Frank from Reading
My fourth grade son started saxaphone this year and when looking at the cost of renting, we knew there had to be a better way. We got this sax in 2 days and brought it to his music teacher for approval. She was exceedingly skeptical when we told her what we salaried for it. Once she played it nevertheless she was forced to eat her words. I know not one thing with regards to saxaphones but she said, “The sound is great, the action is great, it’s surely very nice to look at and it is a little heavy (sounds to me like code for sturdy sufficient for a 9 year old boy).” So basically I purchased my son a sax that effortlessly passed muster with a skeptical music teacher that cost me less than renting one for 1 year. I don’t think Kenng G would be grateful for it but for a beginner, it is a no miss.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
I was blown away……….
By AnnaM01
While in school, I played the alto saxophone for eight years. The day of my high school graduation, I played one last time with the band and haven’t touched a saxophone since. Over the last ten years, I’ve started to regret that decision and commence to look online for a reasonable priced alto just to play around with. When I came all over the Conductor Model 300 Alto Saxophone, I was totally blown away by the price and more then a little skeptical. After reading rave reviews, I decisive to give it shot……..I figured I could always return it if it was an inferior product. I received the saxophone in the mail yesterday and was altogether delighted! The horn has a superior look and a great sound, it’s even better then the one that I played all those years. I would highly commend this instrument to anyone, it is well worth the money!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
A cool thing
By Ajay Pandey
My kid found this one posing no difficulty to play. Keys are more smooth then the former rented instrumented I had.
Sound is likewise batter.

See all 8 client reviews…