Message #46067

[forestman]

Having considered this for longer I thought I would add more comments.

To my eyes the areas that have shine have too much shine, conversely the dull areas are too dull. Unpolished lacquer has a slight lustre and needs polishing to get any shine.

Deeply carved lacquer can't be shined in any normal way, if at all. One way to polish more awkward shapes was to use a very finely ground powder made from deer antler which was rubbed in by finger in a paste which wouldn't work for deeply carved lacquer as it wouldn't reach into the detail to polish it but would clog the detail with the paste which would then be very hard to remove. Flat surfaces were polished with a specific type of coal or charcoal which is no use either.

I believe this is a type of resin that has a coat of a synthetic lacquer over it although the detail looks hand carved not moulded.

Lacquer adheres to itself very well. Lacquer artists polish each layer of lacquer after it has dried before they add another layer. Lacquer tends to chip if knocked but does so in layers, not in single layers. It also doesn't tend to "peel" in layers. Some surfaces, like metals, need preparation so the lacquer would adhere to them and if this wasn't done properly the lacquer will come unstuck at some point.

There are two arrows in the picture below. The left one shows where it seems a gap that has opened up between the metal foot and the resin has been filled. Lacquer wouldn't open up as a gap like this if it didn't adhere to the metal base. For resin to set it has a catalyst added and the chemical reaction that sets it produces heat which can cause it open up a gap like this.

The lower arrow shows how what I believe is an added coat of synthetic lacquer has peeled away in areas which is not how real lacquer tends to behave. I would also question if lacquer would be applied in a layer at this angle to the body if it was genuine layered lacquer. The applied layers would be more parallel to the metal body, this peeled single layer is more fitting as a layer added later and not the uppermost layer of numerous others.

Regards, Adrian.