GLau,
Reading the thread again, I agree that some more explanation is needed about the terminology.
Urushi: Lacquer from the sap of the Lacquer Tree.
Maki-e: "Sprinkled picture" artwork that is painted lacquer sprinkled with other substances like gold or silver or charcoal ash powder.
Raden: mother-of-pearl chips or powder that is inlaid on the wet lacquer.
The three main types of technique are:
1) Hira maki-e: Low lacquer work where the layers of lacquer and sprinkled substances are polished and burnished between layers.
2) Taka maki-e: Raised lacquer work with patterns built up with mixture of metal powder, lacquer, charcoal or clay dust etc to make it more dimensional.
3) Togidashi maki-e: Flat lacquer work can only be done on a perfectly clean and smooth surface. The surface has to be rubbed with urushi leaving no pores before togidashi maki-e can be started. Black lacquer without oil is painted over the metal powder decoration as an additional coat.
Shishiai togidashi maki-e
Hira maki-e is easier and simpler but somewhat monotonous.
Togidashi maki-e is colourful but flat.
Taka Maki-e has raised designs and is colourful but is still not the most complex.
Top artists can combine different methods into a art piece. For example, mountains in the distance need taka maki-e, while the sky needs togidashi maki-e. Trees in the foreground may be represented by taka maki-e and the sea or river may need togidashi maki-e. The difficulty here lies in burnishing flat and raised parts of the designs at the same time. This is where an artist show his/her mastery using the combination technique - shishiai togidashi maki-e.
The master who paints Chopard LUC urushi dials is Minori KOIZUMI under the auspices of 'National Living Treasure' - Master Kiichiro MASUMURA - at the Yamada Heiando Studio with the superlative watchmaking craft of Chopard Manufacture. I made a mistake in the original posting and have corrected the name. The artist (Koizumi) travelled to Singapore to demonstrate the technique at Chopard boutique. The thing about maki-e is that the value of art pieces goes up when the artist retires or leaves this mortal plane......
Regards,
MTF
This message has been edited by MTF on 2015-02-08 02:32:05