Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, a variety of small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer. Before lacquering, the surface is sometimes painted with pictures, inlaid with shell and other materials, or carved. The lacquer can be dusted with gold or silver and given further decorative treatments. East Asian countries have long traditions of lacquer work, going back several thousand years in the cases of Japan, China and Korea. The best known lacquer, an urushiol-based lacquer common in East Asia. Dried sap of Toxicodendron vernicifluum is also used. Other types of lacquers are processed from a variety of plants and insects. The traditions of lacquer work in Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Americas are also ancient and originated independently. True lacquer is not made outside Asia, but some imitations, such as Japanning in Europe, or parallel techniques, are often loosely referred to a "lacquer." East Asia The oldest lacquer tree found is from the Jōmon period in Japan, 12600 years ago. The oldest lacquerware in the world, burial ornaments which were created in 7th millennium century B.C., were unearthed at the Kakinoshima site in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan. Various prehistoric lacquerwares have been unearthed in China dating back to the Neolithic period and objects. The early known lacquerware was thought to be a red wooden bowl, which was unearthed at a Hemudu culture (c. 5th millennium BC) site in Zhejiang, China. Japanese lacquerware The term for lacquer is urushi (漆), source of the English hybrid word "urushiol". Etymologically, urushi may be related to the words uruwashii ("beautiful") or uruoi ("watered", "profitable", "favored"), due speculatively to their value or shiny appearance, or perhaps the humidifying rooms used in production of lacquered wares. The term "Japanning" in the 17th century is a term for the technique used by Europe to emulate Asian lacquer, derived from the then famous Japanese lacquer. The general characteristic of Japanese lacquerware is the widespread use of various Maki-e techniques compared to other countries. As a result, there are many works in which relatively vivid gold and silver patterns and pictures shine on the black base of lacquerware, and the entire lacquerware is covered with shiny gold and silver grains. History and regional production Primitive lacquer was used in Japan as early as 12,600 BC, during the Jōmon period. Lacquer