Zhengdaming · Master's Handmade
One of a Kind · Made to Be Handed Down · One Piece, One Signature
Master Craft
Master's Handmade
Every piece comes from the hands of a lacquer artisan: from body making and lacquering to gold tracery and burnishing, tens of procedures across several months. No replication, no mass production — one piece, one signature, made to be handed down.
The Zhengdaming Master's Handmade series brings together senior lacquer artisans with more than thirty years in the workshop. Natural raw lacquer from the Qinba mountains forms the body, traditional lacquering techniques the spirit, and every piece is made by hand one at a time. A large vessel often takes more than twelve coats of lacquer and months of curing in the humid chamber, then burnishing with tile ash and signing in gold, before it is finished.
We hold to "one piece, one signature": every work carries the artisan's signature and serial number on its base and comes with a certificate of collection and a traceability file, so that this contemporary expression of Eastern lacquer art becomes an object worth handing down.
Ateliers
Three Directions of the Master's Craft
Gold tracery, biantu and plain lacquering — three lacquering techniques carried forward for centuries, each with its own discipline honed through long practice in the master's hands.
Gold Tracery Workshop
Gold powder and gold leaf are worked into the lacquer and brushed in lines over a black or vermilion ground — landscape, twining branches and auspicious beasts all find their place. A painter covers no more than a square inch in a day, the brush fine as a hair, and the gold lines hold their colour across a thousand years.
Biantu and Xipi (Mottled Lacquer)
Layers of differently coloured lacquer are applied, textured with a purpose-made tool, then ground back layer by layer, flowing like cloud and water and never repeating itself. Collectors regard the natural grain of xipi lacquer as "abstract painting in lacquerware".
Plain Lacquering and Burnishing
No ornament at all: the piece is completed through plain lacquering over the whole body and hand burnishing alone. Twelve coats of lacquer and nine rounds of burnishing give a surface as warm as jade and bright enough to reflect — a pure expression of the idea that the greatest truths are the simplest.
Collections
One-of-a-Kind Pieces of the Season
Limited one-of-a-kind pieces; once sold, no further edition is made. Custom orders for form and motif are accepted by appointment, with lead times counted in months.
Artisan's Signature
Vermilion lacquer covered jar with gold tracery
- Craftplain lacquering in vermilion · hand-applied gold tracery
- Specificationsabout 28 cm high · a pair
- Lead timearound six months
From ¥9,800 from
Custom order inquiry →
One of a Kind
Black lacquer display vase with gold tracery
- Craftblack lacquer · gold tracery with twining branches
- Specificationsabout 36 cm high · single piece
- Lead timearound eight months
From ¥15,800 from
Custom order inquiry →
One Piece, One Signature
Xipi lacquer tea caddy
- Craftbiantu and xipi (mottled lacquer) · revealed by hand grinding
- Specifications9 cm mouth diameter · with stand
- Lead timearound four months
From ¥12,800 from
Custom order inquiry →
Process
Customisation Process
From a single sheet of form drawings to a piece made to be handed down, in direct dialogue with the artisan throughout.
Selecting the pieceDecide the form and the direction of the motif, confirm them with the artisan, and produce a hand-drawn design
Body makingA wooden, bodiless or metal body as the piece requires; cloth backing, putty application and sanding establish its structure
LacqueringMultiple coats of lacquer, each cured in a humid chamber, with texturing and gold tracery in between. It follows the nature of the lacquer and cannot be rushed
BurnishingHand-burnished with tile ash and vegetable oil until the lacquer surface is as warm as jade, with a soft inner lustre
DeliveryThe artisan signs and numbers the piece; a certificate of collection and a traceability file accompany it, formally handed over to the collector