An analysis of Chinese lacquerwares from the Bugry cemetery (Altay Krai, Russia) in the State Hermitage Museum

Abstract

Chinese lacquerware from Barrow 1 of the Bugry cemetery (late third century BC) in Altay Krai (Russia) features surviving paint fragments that allow for a comparative description of lacquer compositions and to reconstruct the object type. This article presents the results of the study of the characteristics of the paints and the technologies used in producing the colorings in the lacquer. Methods used includes optical microscopy, cross-section, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FTIR), and X-ray analysis. Object fragments allowed the reconstruction of the type of objects and comparative studies of lacquer composition. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) detected specific differences in thermal degradation of the lacquer films in the range 700 °C that clearly reflect the structure of the paint of each artifact. The multilayer coatings of the lacquer fragments were made by a special technology using a natural material that is derived from the Sap of the Chinese lacquer tree. The base material is a biopolymer of urushiol, a mixture of pyrocatechols contained in the Sap of lacquer tree (Rhus verniciflua; Chinese qi shu 漆树, English qi-lacquer, Japanese urushi). Comparison of the suite of physico-chemical analyses shows some differences with the compositions of the lacquer objects from the Noyon uul Barrows, but they also show similarities in chemical composition between the even earlier archaeological coating lacquers from the Bugry Barrows with lacquer artifacts from the burial Pazyryk in the Altai region.