Sơn mài · Lacquer · Edition of 10
Lidded box, gold leaf
Thếp vàng — gilding with gold leaf, laid under lacquer and polished back into the light.
Đỗ Thị Hương
A box carried by Hương from first coat to polish: ten layers of natural lacquer over jackfruit wood, gold leaf laid under three coats and polished back on the lid, a rim of eggshell inside the edge where the lid meets the body.
She kept a fragment of the shell from each box in the edition, so the owner can see what the white was before it went under.
- Materials
- Natural lacquer, gold leaf, eggshell, on jackfruit wood
- Technique
- Sơn mài — 10 layers; gold buried under three coats and polished back
- Dimensions
- 18 × 12 × 7 cm · 7.1 × 4.7 × 2.8 in · 0.4 kg
- Edition
- Edition of 10 · Signed and sealed
- Made
- Hạ Thái, Thường Tín · 2026
The making
Nine weeks, in four movements
The smallest lacquer takes almost as long as the largest; the coats do not care about size.
I
The box
Jackfruit wood, dried a year, wrapped in cloth and clay.
II
The gold
Leaf laid on the lid and buried under three coats.
III
The shell
Eggshell pressed into the rim, fragment by fragment.
IV
The polish
Polished by palm until the gold surfaces on the lid.
From the same village
