This brooch is recorded as from Japan, Showa (1926-89), in wood, gold, pearl, and lacquer with makie technique. The carving is recorded to Nakamura, Adachi Kouji; attribution information is recorded as certificate, the condition as new, and the dimensions as H 6 W 9 D 0.5. Rather than treating these catalog details as the end point, this post uses the object as a starting point for one question: what is makie, and how is it built in layers?
Makie is a method of decorating lacquered surfaces by sprinkling metal powder onto wet urushi lacquer before it cures. The word is often translated as “sprinkled picture,” and that phrase describes the basic action clearly: a design is drawn or blocked out in adhesive lacquer, powder is applied while the surface is still tacky, and the excess is removed after the lacquer has set. The result is not simply paint sitting on top of an object. The decoration is bound into the lacquer surface itself.
Urushi lacquer is the processed sap of the Toxicodendron vernicifluum tree. It cures through a humidity-driven chemical reaction rather than by drying in the ordinary sense, so timing matters. A layer that looks dry may not yet be ready for the next stage. A lacquer workshop controls moisture, temperature, and waiting time because each coat has to reach the right point before powder, sealing lacquer, or polishing can follow.
The powders used in makie are not all the same. Fine powder gives a softer, more even glow; coarser particles catch light more sharply. Gold can therefore read as a mist, a line, a dense field, or a raised accent depending on how it is applied and finished. Pearl, when used with lacquer, adds another reflective register: not the warm metallic response of gold, but a cooler, shifting light. The brooch recorded here brings together wood, gold, pearl, and lacquer, which makes it a useful entry point for thinking about how different surfaces are made to read as one design.
A finished makie surface is not made in one pass. It is built through repeated stages: preparing the ground, applying lacquer for the design, sprinkling powder, allowing the layer to cure, sealing it, then polishing or burnishing the surface. Each stage changes what the next stage can do. That is why makie is best understood as layered construction, not surface ornament added at the end.
In togidashi makie, the metal-powder design is covered with lacquer and then polished back until the design reappears flush with the surrounding surface. The eye sees gold, but the hand feels little or no difference between the design and the ground. The skill lies in polishing far enough to reveal the pattern without cutting through it. In raised makie, by contrast, the design is built above the base with layers of lacquer before the powder is applied. The relief catches light differently, so the design is read through height as well as colour.
This layered process leaves little room for casual correction. If a lower coat has not cured properly, the next layer may not adhere as intended. If the powder is thin in one area and dense in another, later polishing cannot fully disguise that difference; the metal is already fixed into the surface. Burnishing can refine the shine, but it cannot invent an even structure that was not built earlier. Strong makie depends on control across the whole sequence: lacquer thickness, powder density, curing time, polishing pressure, and final surface finish.
That control is what allows the metal powder to read as one continuous design rather than a scatter of separate particles. The viewer should not feel that gold has been sprinkled randomly over a drawing. The powder, the lacquer beneath it, and the finishing work have to agree visually so that the design holds together across the surface. When that happens, the decoration has depth without becoming visually broken.
When looking at makie, begin with depth. Does the design sit level with the surrounding lacquer, or does it rise above it? A flush surface suggests one kind of layering and polishing; a raised surface suggests another. Tilt the object gently under light. Direct overhead light can flatten the surface, while raking light reveals whether the decoration is embedded, level, or built up in relief.
Then look at continuity. Do the metallic areas read as part of the same surface as the lacquer ground, or do they feel like separate pieces placed beside it? In strong makie, different materials can still belong to one visual plane. The transitions matter: edges that are too abrupt can make the design feel assembled from parts, while controlled layering lets the eye move across lacquer, metal powder, and other reflective elements without interruption.
On the brooch recorded here, the useful question is not simply “what materials are present?” The more revealing question is how those materials behave together. Wood, gold, pearl, and lacquer do not reflect light in the same way. Makie asks the maker to manage those differences so the viewer reads a coherent surface rather than a list of ingredients.
Next time you look at makie, try this simple test: tilt the surface and ask where the design lives — on top of the lacquer, inside it, or raised above it. That question often reveals more than the subject of the design itself.
For details or private viewing, contact Gallery Mitsuido at giulio.dirienzo@gallerymitsuido.com or visit us at 3 Chome-1 Kamiokamotomachi, Takayama, Gifu 506-0055, Japan.
