Damaqi (Large Tree Lacquer)

Damaqi lacquer

　　Damaqi lacquer from Zhuxi County is a famous local specialty. Zhuxi Damaqi lacquer is described as “clear as oil, so transparent you can see the face of a beauty; shimmering amber when shaken, and forming threads when lifted,” making it one of China’s five most renowned types of lacquer. It has been designated as China’s national lacquer at the China Agricultural Exhibition Hall. Since the 1950s, Zhuxi has been listed as a national raw lacquer export base county and was awarded the title of “Advanced County for Quality Lacquer.” The county currently has over 2,510 hectares of lacquer forests, with an annual output of 35 tons.

In traditional Chinese furniture, the use of lacquer has a long and storied history. As far back as ancient times, there are records of lacquer trees. The Book of Documents · Tribute of Yu states: “The tributes of Yanzhou include lacquer and silk.” The Classic of Mountains and Seas · Western Mountains says: “On Guo Mountain, there are many lacquer and palm trees. On Yingda Mountain, there are many lacquered trees.” The aforementioned Yanzhou and Guo Mountain refer to areas in Shandong and Gansu that had abundant lacquer trees thousands of years ago, where lacquer and silk were already offered as tribute.

Lacquer trees are deciduous trees that can grow up to 20 meters tall. In Beijing’s Fangshan District, there is a lacquer tree about 30 meters high in Tiankeng National Forest Park. Its leaves are oval, ovate, or ovate-lanceolate. In early summer, it blooms yellowish-green flowers, and in autumn, it bears flat, spherical fruits with a smooth, yellow appearance. Lacquer trees can be tapped for sap starting from eight years old, and trees as old as forty can still produce lacquer. The natural sap harvested from lacquer trees is called raw lacquer, also known as Damaqi or national lacquer, and sometimes referred to as gold lacquer. Refined lacquer refers to raw lacquer that has been exposed to sunlight, stirred, and oxidized after the addition of tung oil.

The ideal time for lacquer tapping each year is from April to August, with the best quality lacquer harvested during the dog days of summer, as the high temperatures and strong sunlight cause rapid evaporation of moisture, resulting in the highest-quality lacquer. The best time to tap is before sunrise. Lacquer farmers use clamshells to cut through the bark of the lacquer tree, exposing the wood and making diagonal incisions. They then insert clamshells or bamboo slices under the incisions to guide the lacquer sap into wooden buckets, which are then sealed with oiled paper for preservation.

At this stage, the lacquer sap is grayish-milky in color, turning chestnut-shell brown upon contact with air, and eventually becoming brown after drying. “White as snow, red as blood, black as iron” describes the process by which natural lacquer transitions from liquid to oxidized and hardened, with colors deepening from light to dark, ultimately forming a durable lacquer film. Speaking of the color of Damaqi lacquer, there is an ancient saying: “Any lacquer not specified in color is assumed to be black.” Today, people often describe pitch-black darkness as “lacquer-black,” illustrating how dark the night can get.

Earlier, we mentioned the original chestnut-shell brown color of Damaqi lacquer, so why is it said to be black here? “At the gates of the nobles, wine and meat go to waste, while outside, frozen bones line the road.” In Du Fu’s poetry, the “vermilion gates” refer to the mansions of royalty and officials. Vermilion-lacquered gates were not something just anyone could have—apart from the imperial family and nobility, most households opted for black-lacquered doors to avoid overstepping social boundaries and to steer clear of association with the powerful. So how did the original chestnut-shell-brown Damaqi lacquer become black? It all comes down to the composition of the lacquer: the sap tapped from lacquer trees contains urushiol, gum resin, nitrogen, water, and trace amounts of volatile acids, with nearly 80% of its content being urushiol. Moreover, the higher the urushiol content, the better the quality of the lacquer. The enzymes in the nitrogen-containing substances in the lacquer promote the oxidation of urushiol, and the uniquely slightly acidic smell of Damaqi lacquer originates from this process.