Fine Writing - Stylus Magazine

The Art of
Maki-E
B Y D A V I D E . U S H K O W
The first time I saw a Namiki
pen, I was immediately smitten.
It was covered with a
miniature cylindrical painting
in gold and heavily lacquered.
Enthralled, I was determined to
learn more about the ancient
art of Japanese lacquer, better
known as maki-e.
Maki-e literally means “sprinkled
gold.” Unfortunately, the
number of maki-e masters today
has dwindled down to only a
handful. In Japan’s Edo period
(1603-1867) makie-shi, or decoration
artisans, were plentiful.
They made their living decorating
everyday implements and furniture
with beautiful designs, richly
interpreting scenes of nature
in precious metals and lavishly
colored pigments. During the
Meiji Restoration (1868-1912)
much of what was manufactured
was meant for export, resulting
in the popularization of Oriental
art in the West. The evolution of
Art Deco is strongly influenced
by Japanese art of that period,
90 OCTObER/NOvEMbER 2003 s t y lu s
m
From 1970’s:
Flying cranes
majestically
spreading their
wings.
as evidenced by the works of
Cartier, Louis Comfort Tiffany
and Toulouse Lautrec, as well as
many others.
Lacquer, or urushi in Japanese,
is the sap of the rhus verniciflua
tree, which is indigenous
to Asia. Throughout spring and
summer the bark of the tree is
slashed to collect the sap. (The
amount of sap collected from
each tree is only 250 ml per year
making urushi a very precious
commodity.) It is then processed