maki-e

See also: makię and makie

English

Maki-e decoration on a folding screen

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 蒔絵 (maki e, literally “sown picture; scatter picture”).

Noun

maki-e (usually uncountable, plural maki-e’s)

1. A style of Japanese lacquerware made with gold or silver sprinkled on wet lacquer.
   • 1975, Patricia Salmon, A Guide to Japanese Antiques‎^[1], page 22:

     Although indigenous to Japan as a technique, early maki-e retained a T'ang Chinese influence in design. Maki-e is achieved by spreading and scattering gold or silver dust, flakes, nuggets, and leaf on a drawing done in sticky lacquer, which is applied over the hardened lacquer foundation.

   • 1986 November 24, Susan Sontag, “The Way We Live Now”, in The New Yorker‎^[2]:

     […] and that was a puzzle until Orson remembered that he’d recounted without seeming upset (this disputed by Greg) that the boy he’d recently gotten rid of had stolen it, along with four of the maki-e lacquer boxes, as if these were objects as easy to sell on the street as a TV or a stereo.

2. An object decorated with this style of lacquer.

Further reading

• maki-e on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• emaki

Japanese

Romanization

maki-e

1. Rōmaji transcription of まきえ