Handicraft painted with lacquer is general called lacquerware. Raw lacquer is a natural colophony flinched from the lacquer tree. Lacquer is used for base coating, is moisture-proof, resistant to heat, acid and alkali, it can be mixed into diversified brilliant colors, adding beauty to its practical use. The earliest users of lacquer, Chinese people have enjoyed its beauty since the Neolithic Age. From Zhou-Shang Dynasty to Ming-Qing Dynasty, the arts and crafts of Chinese lacquerware has been developed with a long history and reached to a high level. The Chinese technique of handicraft had far-reaching influence upon Japan. Lacquerware is one of the most significant inventions in Chinese ancient chemical craft and artware.
In the early 1970s, archeologists unearthed a red lacquer wooden bowl in an excavation in the Neolithic age, Hemudu remains in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province. It is estimated that the bowl was made 7,000 years ago, the oldest existing lacquerware in the world. Painted potteries in the Neolithic age, was unearthed from Jiangmeiyan in Jiangsu Province. A vermeil lacquerware about 3400¡ª3600 years ago was found in an ancient barrow in Liaoning Province.
According to historical documents, lacquer trees were widely planted during the Warring Period (770-256BC). Lacquerware in the Warring Period (770-256BC) represented high levels in terms of design and coloring. The painted lacquer mirror case "Panorama of the Journey" unearthed in a tomb in Jinmen, Hubei, vividly shows the life of its owner, known as a masterpiece of the time.
The Warring Period (770-256BC) embraced the first peak of lacquer art development, which continued into the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-25AD). Unearthed objects indicate that lacquerwares in the Warring Period (770-256BC) had substantially surpassed the previous ages in terms of varieties, production output and scope of distribution. In the Warring Period (770-256BC), lacquerwares were used in every sphere of society, including daily utensils, music instruments, tomb wares and even weapons. People of Chu(Hubei), liked red color and made a large number of red lacquerwares. Red and black are distinguishing features of lacquer works, creating unique visual effect.
Chinese lacquer art came into its golden age during the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). At that time, the court, nobilities and local merchants regarded lacquerwares as symbols of fortune and status. In order to satisfy personal material needs, they spent numerous human and financial resources to make exquisite lacquerwares. Decoration techniques witnessed new developments in the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD); inlaid gold and silver pattern appeared on the lacquerwares at that time.
During the Suing Jin (265-420AD) and Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589AD), thanks to the introduction and widespread of Buddhism in China, lacquer art began to be applied to Buddha sculptures. One of the important excavations of this time is a lacquer Wood screen unearthed in a tomb in Datong, Shanxi Province. The screen, carved with black inscriptions and painted in red lacquer, has lacquer paintings on it, which is based on "Legends of Heroic Women" of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). This lacquer work is a masterpiece both for its painting and calligraphy.

One of the prominent achievements of the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD) is its progress in lacquerwork techniques. For instance, gold and silver pieces are cut into different patterns to be embedded in lacquer roughcasts and polished. Thus exquisite lacquerworks came into being.
Lacquer art was further developed in the following Song Dynasty (960- 1279AD). The flourishing economy and stable society gave rise to varieties of lacquerwares, among which the most distinctive style is single-color lacquerwork. Though deprived of decorative patterns and designs, single-color lacquerwork were made with extremely meticulous craftsmanship.
Carved Black Lacquer Box is a representative of carved lacquerwares of the Ming Dynasty. The lacquer box is 6 cm in height and 14.5 cm or so in width. It looks like an arched roof and its body is in the shape of a column. The box adopted the technique of lacquer carving. During the making process, the box was first painted with black lacquer over one hundred times. After the black lacquer formed a color layer, it was painted with red lacquer several times. Repeated this way over and over again until the lacquer layers reached the needed thickness, the artisan carved the box with cloud patterns in alternating red and black layers of lacquer until three red lines appeared on the section of lacquer layers. The box has three groups of cloud patterns on its cover and body. This carved lacquerware is now preserved in the Anhui Provincial Museum. The work is of primitive simplicity and full of elegance, having very high artistic value and representing the highest level of China's lacquer carving technique.
Based on traditional lacquer techniques, modern lacquer artists have explored different qualities of lacquer and created many new techniques. The flowing quality of lacquer enables artists to use it at their will in their creations. When it is dried, lacquer can be grinded by charred wood or abrasive paper,which make the modern lacquer art possible.
Since the 1980s, Chinese lacquer art has been showcased in many countries including Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and former Soviet Union and has drawn extensive interest of the international art circle.