Lacquerware in Asia, today and yesterday

"This is a Unesco publication, following on from a workshop held in Yangon in 1996. Monika Kopplin has put together the various research papers into the history and the modern destiny of lacquerware artisanship in Cambodia, China, India, Korea, Japan, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Lacquer is considered to be the one uniquely Asian medium in which artisans have for centuries expressed themselves while making utilitarian objects beautiful as well as functional. With often very detailed photographs to show step by step techniques, as well as illustrations of examples of traditional and contemporary works of lacquer, the book is an invaluable work of reference. The aim of the Heritage Series by Unesco is said to be to record the 'memory of peoples', and, as the number of lacquer artisans dwindles and as traditional lacquerware is replaced by plastic containers, this volume stands as a memorial to those generations of ingenious and dedicated lacquer craftsmen throughout Asia."

Asian Art- The newspaper for collectors, dealers, museums and galleries (UK)

"Writers rally for ode to exalted Asian art : Seventeen specialists dedicated to the art of lacquer have published a book intended to revitalise the venerable expression of Asian culture. (...) The use of lacquer began with the protection of wooden or woven bamboo utensils from humidity and insects along the many trade routes that linked China with its neighbours and rapidly spread to other countries in Asia.(...) The book appeals to specialists and art connoisseurs who are worried about the survival of an ancient art doomed to disappear unless effective action is taken to save it.
Viet Nam's lacquer art is introduced to readers of the book through the studies of two Vietnamese specialists, director of the Centre for Supporting Traditional Culture and Technology, Phan Dang Nhat, and Tran Huy Quang of the Industrial Arts College."

Viêt Nam News