Elegance in lacquer

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Elegance in lacquer: What a Western Han wine cup reveals about Chinese craftsmanship two thousand years ago

This wine cup, lacquered black on the outside and red within, is decorated with whorled motifs, drifting clouds and sharply rendered diamond patterns. Constructed from thin layers of wood, it is light to hold yet remarkably durable. Unearthed in 1972 from the Mawangdui Han tombs, dating to the 160s BC in present-day Hunan Province, central China, it reflects the flourishing of lacquerware in the Western Han period (206 BC-9 AD), when advances in technique and increasingly sophisticated design propelled the craft to new heights.

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Elegance in lacquer: What a Western Han wine cup reveals about Chinese craftsmanship two thousand years ago