Where in the World? Lacquer

Marie-Laure Buku Pongo, Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts, joins Curator Aimee Ng to investigate two cross-cultural cabinets from the 1760s. The pair of cabinets combines French materials and craft with elements made a century earlier and oceans away—eight sumptuous black-and-gold lacquer panels taken from imported Japanese objects. A traditional Asian art form, lacquerware was made through a time-consuming and dangerous process, and the mysteries that Japan held in Europe enhanced the material’s popularity in fashionable French furniture.

The Frick’s temporary move to Frick Madison has prompted new ways of looking at our works of art. The reframing of the collection sheds light on the fact that the Frick's art, although predominantly European, is undeniably linked to the world beyond Europe. In this series, we’re exploring some of these stories, asking "where in the world" we can find new connections to familiar objects.

To view the cabinets in detail, visit our website: https://www.frick.org/lacquercabinets  

Producers: Aimee Ng, Marie-Laure Buku Pongo & Alexis Light
Director: Lisa Goble
Editor: Courtlin Byrd
Director of Photography: George Koelle
Audio Production: Sean Troxell
Original Music: George Koelle
Research Assistance: Gemma McElroy
Copy Editor: Noah Purdy

© 2023 The Frick Collection