In recent years, lacquer beads have become quite popular in the collection market, and many people are obsessed with lacquer beads with bright colors and beautiful patterns. The necklaces, bracelets, and pendants made of them have unique styles and excellent gloss. They have the simple and rich charm of lacquerware, and the light and simple composition and color on the beads create a gorgeous narrative style. Moreover, lacquer beads will not change in quality due to oxidation and corrosion, and will not crack, peel, or fade, so that they have acquired a long-lasting aesthetic quality over the years. Therefore, wearing lacquer bead jewelry has become a fashion, and it is an artwork that can be enjoyed and collected.
Lacquer craft is a handmade art that is painted on the surface and beautified with painting and carving, using the contrast and reflection of different colors and different spaces to create a three-dimensional visual beauty. Lacquer beads are one of the categories. The natural raw lacquer harvested from the lacquer tree is applied layer by layer on the beads made of fine wood, and patterns are drawn with different lacquer colors. After a series of shade drying and polishing processes, the surface is exposed through layers of lacquer, which has a sense of rhythm of music or spectrum, and is visually extremely beautiful and moving. To make a lacquer bead, sometimes it takes dozens of repeated lacquer and polishing processes. Only step by step, the color will be bright and bright, the luster will be moist, and the lacquer skin will be natural and pure, as if it is naturally generated. This process of fine painting and grinding entirely by manpower has also made lacquer beads a popular item for people to enjoy and collect.
The process of making lacquer beads began in the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming Dynasty. The “Record of Lacquer Decorations” written by Huang Cheng, a famous lacquer worker in the Ming Dynasty, has a description of the lacquer process. Raw lacquer has good solidification. After being applied to the object for a few hours, it will harden into a layer of lacquer skin with good gloss, producing a halo effect like an ancient artifact. Lacquer workers use this characteristic to apply lacquer to the wooden beads, layer by layer, and then draw patterns according to different colors. Simple and plain patterns are preferred. Then continue to apply lacquer layer by layer. During the production, lacquer beads must be placed in an environment with constant temperature and humidity to allow the lacquer to dry thoroughly, so that they will not peel or crack, and will not change color over time.
During the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, lacquer beads had already developed very maturely and were very common accessories. After half a century of silence, in recent years, with the hot Tibetan market, lacquer beads have regained vitality, and a large number of new generation lacquer workers have emerged. Lacquer beads can be combined into strings to make necklaces, bracelets, and Buddhist beads, or they can be played alone, hung on silk threads, and used as pendants or waist ornaments. For example, some lacquer beads are made of vermilion lacquer as the base color, and the Buddhist beads made are colorful and extremely dazzling. With a piece of jade or green jade below, it forms a visual effect of red flowers and green leaves. Or you can choose a dark lacquer bead as the pendant of a folding fan. The slightly mysterious composition and fluorescent luster of the bead well demonstrate the new relationship between people and objects, and exude a leisurely taste of elegant life.
For collectors, it is not necessary to pursue antiques. Modern lacquer beads, as long as they are well-made and have delicate lacquer colors, also have strong appreciation potential.