Reader-built field atlas

Lacquer Surface Under Raking Light Atlas

A frontal beauty view can show motif and color. Front, edge and underside views under controlled light are needed to test relief, inlay, wear and the relation between lacquer surface and object core.

Add a field record Read the Chinese Lacquerware guide

The evidence pair

Two photographs that can be compared

Frame 1

The complete object from its normal viewing position with scale and use recoverable

Frame 2

An edge or underside under gentle side light showing relief, layer contrast, inlay, wear or exposed core

What the note must add

Record the owner or institution, object type, material label and permitted handling conditions. Describe only visible surface operations; do not authenticate, date, value, scrape, solvent-test or assign a regional workshop from color alone.

Submissions remain private until East Moment reviews the rights, specificity and usefulness of the record.

Editorial founding evidence

A visible baseline, with the gaps left open

These are East Moment editorial records built from authorized or rights-cleared imagery. They are not reader submissions and do not count toward the public record total.

Carved layers and inlaid furniture before the matched side-light record

Unmatched museum method baseline

Two public-domain Met photographs establish distinct surface operations: a carved box exposes red and black layers along deep cuts, while a black lacquer table carries reflective mother-of-pearl across a complete furniture form.

Late Yuan carved lacquer box with red relief and dark layers visible in the cuts — Visible: carved relief and contrasting layers on one complete box. Missing: underside, coat count and controlled side light.

Late Ming black lacquer table with mother-of-pearl flowering sprays — Visible: inlay distributed across furniture scale. This is not an edge or underside view of the carved box.

Still missing: These are different objects, neither includes a matched underside or controlled raking-light sequence, and the photographs cannot reveal each hidden core, exact coat count, later repair, handling wear or one continuous making history.

Approved reader records

The Atlas in public

No front-edge-underside lacquer record has cleared review yet.

The first approved record will keep one object's surface, edge and core relationship together. An isolated red motif or unmatched museum comparison cannot complete the Atlas.

Make the first record