A Study Of Xiushilu

Xiushilu, the records of lacquering, as the object of this study, this paper discusses it’s history of Xiushilu’s circulation and research, analyses the author’s career and background, explains Xiushilu’s content, summarizes Xiushilu’s function on lacquer art practice with some forerunners’ achievements and experiments. This paper’s aim is looking for the meaning and usage of Xiushilu on traditional lacquer art culture study today. The main points of this paper as follows:1. Xiushilu had been lost in middle Qing dynasty, only handed down by hand-written form in Japan, until came back China in1927. By compare of the domestic and overseas research state, their points are different, but complement each other. At the same time, the question about Xiushilu’s aim for what usage is contestable. For responding this question, discussing what Xiushilu uses for becomes this paper’s basis aim; the first question is why the author writes it.2. Xiushilu’s author Huang Cheng, his career is unknown.With limited information, this paper concludes his origin, meanwhile discusses the tradition of lacquer artist in ancient China according to the Xiushilu’s records. The ancient lacquer artists could be divided into two parts as royal artists and folk artists,some cases about the folk lacquer artists tells us their social role is varied in Ming dynasty. Huang as one of the folk lacquer artists, I believe that his background must influence Xiushilu’s writing; the currency of lacquer ware at that time plays an important role to it.3. To reinterpret Xiushilu’s content as an important part in this paper, and I explain again its editing manner and its cosmological idea’s foundation and effect. By discussing Xiushilu’s thinking of lacquer design, knowledge of lacquer craft, lacquering types, appreciation and identification, this paper summarizes the characteristic of Xiushilu. From Huang’s original writing, we can deduce that the first aim of Xiushilu is on distinguishing lacquering. But, I think that the currency and usage of Xiushilu are important as the author’s aim to write it.4. The lacquering from Xiushilu’s records about the process o f liquid lacquer and color comes from Yang Ming’s explanation, but not Huang’s text. It means that Xiushilu by Yang’s supplement becomes a work is shared by lacquer artists. With some tests’ results, it is proved that Xiushilu’s description is true. It means the design methods of lacquering from Xiushilu’s records are not only important to the research on traditional lacquer art, but also meaningful to today’s lacquer art practice. So, Xiushilu’s study is indispensible to the traditional lacquer art’s creation in present.