This reference tool covers the technology and methods of treatment for both types of lacquer and assesses current practices. It describes production technology and decorative techniques and discusses the materials used in Asian lacquer.

This book is a comprehensive resource covering the principles and practice of the conservation and restoration of furniture, and other decorative art objects made wholly or partly of wood. It integrates theory with practice to show the principles which govern interaction between wooden objects, the environmental and conservation treatments and the factors which need to be taken into account to arrive at acceptable solutions to conservation problems. The practical knowledge and experience of a team of conservators active in the field are bought together with theoretical and reference material from diverse sources and unified within a systematic framework. Specialist conservators from related disciplines cover diverse materials often incorporated into furniture.

This report attempts to isolate and separately examine each of the factors known to lead to cellulose nitrate decomposition, and then relate their contribution to the instability of the polymer when it is used as a bonding agent for ceramics and as a lacquer for metal objects. These factors include deterioration caused by heat, radiation, or acid impurities, or through the loss of plasticizer. There is, moreover, decomposition caused autocatalytically by the initial breakdown products. In particular, the publication examines new information on chemical changes under ambient conditions that has been developed recently through advances in analytical procedures such as chemiluminescence, X-ray scanning spectroscopy (ESCA), and more sophisticated viscometry. This new information will be added to the large body of data, collected over the past 150 years, on the instability of cellulose nitrate under more severe conditions.

The international workshop on conservation of East Asian cabinets in imperial residences (1700–1900) marked the starting point for the FWF-funded research project on the East Asian cabinets in Schönbrunn palace. The workshop facilitated the exchange of knowledge and experience between international conservators, art historians and related experts in the fields of Asian and European lacquerware and porcelain.

Lacquer Chemistry and Applications explores the topic of lacquer, the only natural product polymerized by an enzyme that has been used for a coating material in Asian countries for thousands of years. Although the human-lacquer-culture, including cultivation of the lacquer tree, harvesting, and the use of lacquer sap, has a long history of more than thousand years, there is very little information available on the modern scientific methods to study lacquer chemistry. This book, based on the results of the authors' 30 years of research on lacquer chemistry, offers lacquer researchers a unique reference on the science and applications of this extremely important material. - Covers the chemistry and properties of lacquer, including synthesis of its various components - Provides up-to-date analytical techniques for lacquer identification and characterization - Discusses possible toxicity effects - Outlines new modification techniques for developing higher performance material - Presents the history of this versatile coating material that has evolved from its origins in Asian countries over thousands of years