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The introduction of Asian laquer art to the West
Filippo Bonanni (1638-1725).
Trattato sopra la vernice detta communemente Cinese […].
Rome, Giogio Placho, [1720].
8°. 3-16; 143 pp. (lacks first and last blank page). later decorated stiff paper covers with title-label on front and spine.
With 4 engraved full-page plates.
Rare first edition of the first European treatise on Chinese and Japanese lacquer and varnishing, introducing the application and ingredients necessary for its preparation. The plates illustrate the tools needed in the various steps of making the recipe and how they are used. In a combination of information from Asia and his own findings, the author provides many recipes for paint, transparent and coloured varnishes, and colours. Author Filippo Bonanni (1638-1725) was a student of Athanasius Kircher at the Jesuit College at Rome and became a professor of mathematics there. The Jesuits were an important getaway of Asian culture into the West, as is evidenced by the lacquer manual… Read More