The manufacture
of lacquerware is a complicated process which, like so many arts
technics, has been introduced to Thailand from China. Today,
most of the Thai lacquerware is made around Chiang Mai.
Photo:
Thai Lacquerware
The manufacture
of lacquerware starts with raw wooden forms. In Thailand, small
elephant images are very popular, aside from show plates
and little boxes. The wooden piece is polished and then
painted with black lacquer again and again.
While a design
can just be painted on top of the lacquer item, the much more
intricate technics is to create in-laid designs. For these,
extremely thin gold leaves are most commonly used. Other
in-laid materials are egg shell and mother-of-pearl.
There are
a large number of lacquerware factories in Chiang Mai on the Road
to San Kamphaeng, just a few kilometers out of the city.
Visits to these factories are common itineraries of sightseeing
tours in Chiang Mai.
Quite a lot
of Burmese lacquerware is sold along with Thai products.
Smuggled from Burma into Thailand are considerable quantities,
especially of gold-inlaid lacquer pieces depicting not just any
easy-to-do ornament but intricate designs of human or mythological
figures. These figures are scratched into inlaid gold-leave layers
with needle-like tools.
Prices for
these Burmese, or at least Burmese-style, lacquer pieces are often
not higher than for rather cheaply produced other lacquer
items just featuring painted ornaments. The lowest prices for
this exquisite kind of lacquerware this author has found at Mae
Sai right at the border to Burma. Many shops selling Burmese
lacquerware as well as other Burmese handicrafts are right at
the bridge that crosses the Sai river into Burma.
In Bangkok
lacquerware from Chiang Mai and Burma is available from many street
hawkers in the tourist districts, at handicraft stores and
at Chatuchak Weekend Market.
Only seldom
available in Bangkok is Vietnamese lacquerware. It is easily
distinguished, first because it normally uses red-brown instead
of black lacquer, second because most pieces are inlaid with mother-of-pearl,
and third because pieces of Vietnamese origin are usually much
larger than those of Thai or Burmese origin. Vietnamese lacquerware
is smuggled through Laos and Cambodia into Thailand by
numerous small-time traders who cross the borders with just a
few pieces and then sell the items in Thai border towns such as
Mukdahan and Aranyapathet.
Vietnamese
lacquerware actually is among the best buys Thailand can
offer. If compared to Thai and Burmese lacquerware, the pieces
generally appear more artistic. And still, when taken the price
per square inch, they tend to be cheaper than either Burmese or
Thai lacquerware. Very large Vietnamese mother-of-pearl lacquerware
is not uncommon. Aside from show boards, there are available
room dividers, boxes and whole living room furniture sets.
