Asian splendor.(Current and coming)(exhibition of lacquer products at Mother-of-Pearl: A Tradition )

Lacquer decorated with inlaid mother-of-pearl is very often spectacular. When treated in such a fashion, simple pieces of furniture, screens, boxes, and trays become highly decorative as well as luxurious. This work is the subject of an exhibition on view until April 1 in the Chinese decorative arts galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Entitled Mother-of-Pearl: A Tradition in Asian Lacquer, the exhibition includes fifty works of art dating from the eighth to the nineteenth century, most from the museum's own collection but some loaned by other museums and private collectors. Curated by Denise Patry Leidy of the Department of Asian Art, the show includes objects from China, Korea, Japan, India, and Thailand.

Mother-of-pearl, also called pearl shell, is the luminous material found inside various mollusks (including cuttlefish and snails) from warm waters in many parts of the world. Its iridescence comes from the refraction of light through the many layers of calcium carbonate. To use it as a decorative medium involves boiling and cutting the shell to extract the inner part--this can also be done with acid or by grinding. The material is then trimmed to desired shapes and polished either with abrasives or acid. The tools used to work mother-of-pearl were often those of the goldsmith. The material is fragile and can be easily destroyed by sunlight or heat.

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This exhibition traces the forms and designs found on decorative lacquer works across Asia over the centuries. Mother-of-pearl added to lacquered objects dates as far back as the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1050 BC) in China, but lacquered objects actually inlaid with mother-of-pearl came later. Examples from the eighth ...