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This study focuses on the very beginning of lacquerware production with chinoiserie decoration in Spa from the end of the seventeenth century to the third quarter of the eighteenth century. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the historical and material-technical context of this important historical lacquer production is elucidated. Archival research was conducted along with a stylistic study of thirty objects, mainly boxes. Furthermore, seventeen of the objects from this study group were chemically analysed for their organic ingredients, pigments and metal applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A set of 19th-century furniture in black lacquer, on papier-mâché or on turned wood, has been subjected to an in-depth observational, historical and chemical study. The results show four different technological approaches: two for the papier-mâché objects and two for the wooden chairs. The cyclic labour-intensive lacquering procedure of repeated stoving and polishing lacquer on papier-mâché with mother-of-pearl inclusions is reflected in the cross-sections. Pinaceae resin and heated oil are frequently found, conform with surviving recipes. A variant of 'the old form of varnish', as historically described, was likely used. In the two pairs of wooden chairs, the lacquer layers are thinner than on the papier-mâché items. They contain copal and show different stratigraphies. These observations can be the starting point to relate technological and chemical variations to different origins. New art historical findings on lacquer production and trade in England, France and Belgium, and the study of contemporary recipes, frame the analytical results in a historical context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including black lacquer papier mache; intriguing career of lacquer worker Johann Adalbert Kratochwill; and study on resins from the Pinaceae species.