Abstract
The periods of the Ming and Qing dynasties featured prosperous socioeconomic development; the development of industrial, commercial, and manufacturing production; and active urban consumer behavior with great advocacy for the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius in the imperial court, and extensive promotion of refined elegance of benevolence, righteousness, ritual, and wisdom among the public. Under the influence of such an objective environment, lacquerware, as China’s most ancient traditional form of artwork, also functioned as significant historical evidence for the development of the urban handicraft industry. Assuming a social role between ritual items and daily items, the development of lacquer arts was closely bound up with Confucian ritual spirituality. Based on relevant cultural relic data and documents in the literature, this study takes lacquer as a mirror with regard to the progress of the trend of lacquer culture and lacquer art during the Ming and Qing dynasties as the clue, and analyzes the embodied features of lacquer art design function, modeling, and themes to discuss the influence of Confucian ritual spirituality on social consumption.
Highlights
Chinese lacquer culture features a long history of 7000 years with the earliest found lacquered vessel “vermilion lacquer wooden bowl” originating from the Hemudu Neolithic Period (Zhang 2006).As a precious handicraft, lacquerware has had its development traced back to ancient times
The role of lacquer art is spontaneously transformed from god-worshipping artifact to sacrificial vessel, which profoundly embodies Confucian ritual spirituality and becomes a symbol of status, a keepsake of human communication, and an attestation of the concept of consumption
Ritual spirituality and the concept of consumption in the Ming and Qing dynasties were the intangible outcome of the thought structure and economic behavior, respectively, with mutual effect and promotion
Summary
Chinese lacquer culture features a long history of 7000 years with the earliest found lacquered vessel “vermilion lacquer wooden bowl” originating from the Hemudu Neolithic Period (Zhang 2006). Since the middle of the Ming dynasty, urban economic development accelerated the progress of the commodity handicraft industry and social consumption behaviors maintained an active period for a long time. Ritual spirituality and the concept of consumption in the Ming and Qing dynasties were the intangible outcome of the thought structure and economic behavior, respectively, with mutual effect and promotion. By the same token as “expressing morals via implements,” this study takes lacquer as the mirror, and adopts the development features of lacquer art design during the Ming and Qing dynasties as the focus of research to analyze the relationship between Confucian ritual spirituality and the concept of consumption of modern society. Prior to the discussion of this research, the concept of lacquer art design in Ming and Qing dynasties needs to be clarified. This study mainly focuses on the research of common small and medium-sized lacquerware such as tableware, containers, and stationery items
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