makie　蒔絵

KEY WORD :　art history / crafts

Lit. sprinkled picture. A technique which originated in the Heian period for lacquer ware decoration in which designs are made by scattering adhesive metal or color powder in soft lacquer or directly on wood. Commonly used powders are gold, silver, aokin 青金 (an alloy of gold and silver), tin *shakudou 赤銅 (an alloy of copper and gold), gunmetal, an alloy of three parts copper to one of silver, brass, lead, aluminum, platinum, pewter, and kanshitsufun 乾湿粉 (dry-lacquer powder). Paint powders include yasurifun 鑢粉 (coarse flakes produced by filing), hiramefun 平目粉 (flattened coarse flakes), nashijifun 梨子地粉 (fine flakes used for pear-skin lacquer decoration), marufun 丸粉 (grain-shaped flakes) and keshifun 消粉 (frosted gold leaf). Two kinds of soft brushes are used for line drawing and applying the first coat: funzutsu 粉筒 (a bamboo tube with a silk or gauze net for laying powder) and tsumeban 爪盤 (made of water-buffalo horn or tortoise shell for lacquer paint). Also used are the jouban 定盤 (box table), wide hake 刷毛 brush and hair stick. Techniques are divided into three types. In the togidashi makie 研出蒔絵 (burnished makie) technique popular in the Heian period, after the low relief sprinkled design and ground harden, they are covered in transparent or black lacquer, then polished down with charcoal until the design is flush with the new ground. Togidashi largely replaced the makkinru 末金鏤 technique in which coarse gold filings were sprinkled over the wet design surface, relacquered, and polished until the design was revealed. Hiramakie 平蒔絵 (flat makie), introduced in the Kamakura period, features sprinkled powders applied directly on the smooth lacquered surface in very low relief so only the thickness of the final protective lacquer coating is raised above the surface. In takamakie 高蒔絵 (raised makie), developed in the Muromachi period, metallic powders are applied to soft surface designs built up through a mixture of lacquer and charcoal or clay dust. They are affixed by a protective lacquer coat and polished. Cut metal shapes *kirikane 切金 and metal nacre, kanagai 金貝 techniques are often used in conjunction. Shishiai makie 肉合蒔絵 or shishiai togidashi makie 肉合研出蒔絵, a combination of the takamakie and togidashimakie techniques, was used frequently in landscapes where such elements as rocks, clouds, or mountains are done in a raised design that slopes gently into a flattened design. Ikakeji 沃縣地, a precursor to the fundami 粉溜 technique, is the process through which a ground is made by the heavy sprinkling of gold or silver powder in one coat. Makie application techniques include tsukegaki 付描 (drawing with narrow lacquer lines and over sprinkling with gold and silver filings), kakiwari 描割 (design motifs are emphasized with liquid lacquer and sprinkled gold and silver, while boarders are left plain), and abisemaki 浴せ蒔き (entire flower petals or leaves are scattered with gold fillings, and then outlines and veins are presented in higher or lower relief). Sprinkling techniques include jimaki 地蒔 (metal filings or pigment are deposited on the background of design motifs), chirimaki 塵蒔 (coarse filings of gold or silver are sprinkled over the lacquered surface of an object), heijin 平塵 (where additional lacquer is applied over chirimaki decoration and then polished away with abrasives after it dries), and ikakeji (a type of jimaki where gold and silver powder is sprinkled densely over the lacquered ground), hirameji 平目地 (filed and pressed coarse metal flakes are sprinkled over a half-dry lacquer surface, recoated, and finally polished to expose metal flakes), and nashiji 梨子地 (pear-skin ground). Such techniques as *raden 螺鈿 (lacquer ware with mother-of-pearl inlay), hyoumon 平文 (imbedding of shapes cut out from gold, silver or tin sheets) may be used. Makie objects were first made as household goods for court nobles. Soon military leaders became patrons and makie styles evolved to serve new tastes. Nashiji, is the name given to two widely-used styles invented in the Kamakura period. In one, large irregular shaped gold flakes are scattered at differing angles in many layers in wet nashiji urushi 梨子地漆, a highly translucent lacquer that has been tinted orange; a further coating is applied and polishing exposes the flakes to produce an uneven surface texture. It is often used to give a uniformly decorative surface to large but less important areas, such as the insides of drawers or the bottoms of boxes. In the other nashiji technique, a fine metallic powder is sprinkled onto a lacquered surface; when dry, a coat of transparent lacquer is applied and lightly polished. Under the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa 足利義政 (1436-90), lacquers in the so-called Higashiyama 東山 style flourished. Kouami Douchou 幸阿弥道長 (1410-78), the first lacquer master linked to specific works, used designs by such contemporary painters as Tosa Mitsunobu 土佐光信 (1434-1525), Nouami 能阿弥 (1397-1471), and Souami 相阿弥 (d. 1525). Kouami and another makie master, Igarashi Shinsai 五十嵐信斎 (act mid-15c), started the two earliest schools of lacquer under direct shogunal patronage. The Kouami school Kouamiha 幸阿弥派, continued in a direct line of descent to make lacquer ware for the shogunate until the 19c, typically with designs inspired by master painters of the Kanou school *Kanouha 狩野派. A rival was the Igarashi school Igarashiha 五十嵐派, founded by Igarashi Shinsai under Ashikaga Yoshimasa and continuing through the 17c. Ryuukyuu shikki 琉球漆器, made in Okinawa and the Amami 奄美 Islands, was made from about 1500. Influenced by Chinese lacquer styles, the tsuikin 堆錦 technique derived from ryuukyuu shikki. Tsuikin consisted of making a dough from lacquer solution and colored pigments, rolling this out, punching or cutting this into engraved patterns, and applying to the surface of a lacquered object. In the Momoyama period, a new, ultra-refined style of hiramakie was called koudaiji makie 高台寺蒔絵. Associated with the temple Koudaiji 高台寺, Kyoto, it used a black lacquer base decorated in the hiramakie style with e-nashiji 絵梨子地 (sprinkling coarse flakes of gold over the whole surface or the background space on lacquerware), and harigaki 針描 (engraving in lacquer with a needle). In the early Edo period, a special lacquer ware which mixed mother-of-pearl inlay with hiramakie was called nanban makie 南蛮蒔絵 or nanban shitsugei 南蛮漆芸. Displaying mostly Portuguese or Dutch motifs it is found most often on trunks made for the European export market. In the Edo period, Honnami Kouetsu 本阿弥光悦 (1558-1637) and Ogata Kourin 尾形光琳 (1658-1716) developed their own designs and techniques. At the end of the Edo period, techniques became more complicated, but the quality of materials declined and expression became perfunctory.

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