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Japanning is a type offinish that originated as a European imitation of East Asianlacquerwork. It was first used on furniture, but was later much used on small items in metal. The word originated in the 17th century. American work, except in the carriage and early automobile industries, is more often calledtoleware.[1]
It is distinct from true East Asian lacquer, which is made by coating objects with a preparation based on the dried sap of theToxicodendron vernicifluum tree, which was not available in Europe.
Japanning is most often a heavy blacklacquer, almost likeenamel paint. Black is common, and japanning is often synonymous with black japanning. The European technique usesvarnishes that have aresin base, similar toshellac, applied in heat-dried layers which are then polished, to give a smooth glossy finish. It can also come in reds, greens and blues.
Originating in India, China and Japan as a decorative coating for pottery, authentic East Asian lacquered ware made its way into Europe by the 17th century. In the late 17th century, high European demand (along with rumors that East Asian manufacturers reserved their higher-quality work for their domestic markets) led to the production of imitation pieces starting in Italy. Its traditional form used gold designs and pictorials to contrast with the black base colour.
As the demand for japanned goods grew, the Italian technique for imitating Asian lacquerwork also spread. The art of japanning developed in seventeenth-century Britain, France, Italy, and theLow Countries. The technique was described in design and pattern manuals such as Stalker and Parker'sTreatise of Japanning and Varnishing, published in Oxford in 1688. Colonial Boston was a major center of the japanning trade in America, where at least a dozen cabinetmakers included it among their specialties. In England, decoupage, the art of applying paper cutouts to other items, became very popular, especially thebotanically inspired works ofMary Delany.
A large amount of early amateur japanning can be attributed to the rise of the artform as a suitable pastime for young ladies between the late 17th and 18th century.Molly Verney is noted as one of these early adopters of the craft which was subsequently taught in London, but a number of pattern books such asArt's Master-piece. OR, A Companion for the Ingenious of either Sex (1697),The Art of Japanning: Varnishing, Pollishing, and Gilding ... Published at the Request of Several Ladies of Distinction by Mrs. Artlove (1730),The Lady's Delight, or Accomplished Female Instructor (1741),Study and Practise the Noble and Commendable Art of Drawing, Colouring and Japanning ... with Plain and Easy Rules for the Ladies Japanning (1751),The Ladies Amusement or, Whole Art of Japanning Made Easy (1758, 1762 & 1771), &The Young Ladies School of Arts byHannah Robertson (1766) were all aimed at a female audience, and some of which were also written by female authors.[2][3] Certainly by 1710, "japanning" was regarded by many includingAlexander Pope as a feminine pastime.[4] These mock lacquerware techniques were often suggested to be applied to textiles, and by the 18th century are found on cabinets, tea-trays, powderboxes, drawers, and large flat English household furniture in the manors and houses of the landed gentry.
Drawing on thegrotesque forms derived from travellers accounts and artwork from theIndies these conflated forms went so far from the source material, they can said to be an early form ofJaponaiserie in the UK. Popular motifs included landscapes containing 'woods, cottages, rivers, trees, hills, sun, moon [&] stars'.[5] Other popular adopters included the wife ofRobert Walpole, LadyCatherine Walpole in 1732. One of her 'japanned cabinets' was bought and displayed in the Blue bedroom byHorace Walpole in hisStrawberry Hill House.[6] The popularity of japanning continued to be seen as a womanly pursuit until 1760, by which point it began to become a commercial trade in the UK. Today, japanning exists primarily as a conservation craft – it so extremely rare to make it for new items so it is taught from a conservation/restoration approach for example as part of the City & Guilds three-year Conservation course and Painter Stainers Decorative Surface Fellowship.
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Wolverhampton andBilston were important centres for the manufacture of japanned ware. Trade directories for 1818 list 20 firms of japanners in Wolverhampton and 15 in Bilston.[7] According to Samuel Timmins' bookBirmingham and the Midland Hardware District, published in 1866, there were 2000 people employed in the japanning and tin-plate industries in Wolverhampton and Bilston at the time. Japanning firms ranged in size from small family workshops, which often adjoined the proprietor's home, to a few large factories employing over 250 people. In the larger workshops, the production of tin plate and papier-mâché articles and the japanning process all took place under one roof, while small workshops tended to carry out only one or two of the trades, usually tin-plate working and japanning.
At the height of its popularity, richly decorated japanned ware was to be seen in every middle-class home, but from the mid-19th century, this began to change. By the 1880s, the japanning and tin-plate industries were in decline. This was due partly to changes in fashion and taste and partly due to the development of electroplating. In response, makers of japanned ware began to focus on more utilitarian items, including japanned cash boxes. Many turned to other trades, including enamelling, electroplating and the manufacture of copper and brass coal scuttles, fire screens and kettles. By the 1920s, theWest Midlands' decorative japanned ware industry had largely died out. Many firms began to supply japanned metal to the newly established bicycle and motor vehicle industries, and some even made their own bicycles. The most successful of these wasJohn Marston, whose japanning factory began making bicycles in 1887. The bicycle manufacturing part of the business quickly became more successful than the production of decorative japanned ware. Marston's wife thought the gilt on the black japanned bicycles looked like sunbeams and the bicycles were brandedSunbeam and their factory was namedSunbeamland.
Ironware was japanned black for decorative reasons. It was also used to render it rustproof, suitable for carrying water. A significant industry developed atPontypool andUsk in South Wales, shortly beforetinplate began to be made in the area. Japanned ware was being also made atBilston, England by 1719 and later elsewhere in the area.[8]
The technique was also developed to protect metal objects such assewing machines,hand planes, builders' hardware, and in North America,electricity meters made before the mid-1930s. Later, it was used as an insulating film ontransformer laminations.
Japanned sheets were also used as the dark substrate for thetintype photographic process.
