Editing Lacquerware (section)

===Vietnamese lacquer painting and lacquerware===
{{unreferenced section|date=September 2020}}
[[File:National Museum of Vietnamese History March 2nd, 2018 120.jpg|thumb|Lacquerware, [[Nguyễn dynasty]], Vietnam]]
[[File:Temple furnishings in crimson and gold, Museum of Vietnamese History, Hanoi (7) (26723390309).jpg|thumb|A [[folding screen]] using Vietnamese lacquer]]
[[File:Painting Thieu nu va phong canh of Nguyen Gia Tri (back side).jpg|thumb|A lacquered folding screen]]
''Sơn mài'' is a painting technique in [[Vietnam]]. It developed from the painters of the Hanoi [[EBAI]] in the 1930s and today is counted a national painting style with many famous painters.

In 1924 the [[École des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine|Ecole des Beaux Arts]] was established in [[Hanoi]]. This institution was to be the birthplace of the revitalised art of lacquer painting. In 1934 the school opened its lacquer department and it was from here that well known contributors to the art including; Bui Trang Chuoc, Nguyen Van Binh, Nguyen Khang, Nguyen Duc Nung, Nguyen Tien Chung, and Pham Van Don would emerge.

It was the first generation of Vietnamese students of the Indochina School of Fine Art during the 1930s, who elevated the craft of lacquer painting to a truly fine art. Less interested in decor than their craftsmen predecessors, it was also these men who would begin a series of artistic innovations from which craftsmen producing purely utilitarian or decorative pieces would also benefit.

Creating images with crushed eggshell, painting pigment over gold and tin foil and adding sand to lacquer were all techniques developed by those first students. The metallic color lacquerware for which Vietnamese craftsmen are rightly famous, was first developed by artists experimenting with many innovative techniques.

After the [[Reunification Palace|reunification]], the art of lacquerware was slowly dying out in Vietnam. But since the 1980s, the government has recognized it as a vital cultural and economic force and has encouraged the business community to invest in the craft. As a result, we see a resurgence of lacquerware and a proliferation of lacquerware products from Vietnam.