The application with a brush of a European-imitation of Asian lacquerwork, made using traditional materials such as shellac.

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Japanning was developed in Europe in the 16th century to imitate Asian lacquer made from the sap of the lacquer tree (urushi). At this time, ‘Chinoiserie’ was a popular style for interior decoration. Many books and treatises were written on japanning in the 17th century, and are still the best form of reference today.

Today, very few people will make their living as a japanner. It exists primarily as a conservation craft and it is mostly conservators who have access to the skills of traditional japanning. While many furniture companies do produce ‘lacquerwork’ items, these are spray-applied modern lacquers and not urushi or japanning.

• Japanning: A European imitation of Asian lacquerwork, using traditional materials such as shellac, and applied with a brush. It involves preparing a board with up to 25-30 layers of European lacquer to create a mirrored black surface to then gild images upon. The gilded gold/silver leaf silhouettes are subsequently built up with layers of shade and line before being finished with layers of shellac.
• Penwork (white lacquer) – similar in the way it is lacquered but with a different mixture of pigment and the image is drawn instead of gilded.
• Coromandel work: la similar technique to japanning where a board is built up with layers of gesso and subsequently lacquered but instead of building images with gold leaf and powders, images are carved into the lacquer.
• Tortoiseshell
• Emulating true lacquer (urushi) 
• Modern lacquerwork: A modern coating often made of volatile organic compounds or acrylic compounds, such as melamime, and applied with a spray.

• Today, lacquerwork exists primarily as a conservation craft – it is extremely rare to make it for new items so it is taught from a conservation/restoration approach (i.e. as part of the City & Guilds of London Art School three-year BA Conservation and BA Carving degree courses).
• Skills transmission: The skills of lacquerwork are seriously at risk as few people are passing on their skills. While the 17th-century treatises do still exist, you need to have an understanding of japanning in order to interpret them.
• Skills transmission/time intensive: West Dean runs postgraduate and adult short courses which give people a basic understanding of the craft – but you can’t teach how to do all the layers on a three-day course.
• Cost/time intensive: lacquerwork is extremely time-consuming and nobody wants to pay for the hours (so if an alternative, spray-on material is available then people will go for that).
• Changing tastes: Chinoiserie goes in fifty-year cycles.