Last Tuesday I made yet another visit to the Museum of Popular Arts in downtown Mexico City. It is my favorite small museum in a city filled with museums, and I visit often because they have frequent special exhibits.
A small exhibit currently compares the artistic tradition of lacquerware in Mexico and Japan. Lacquer objects have been created in Asia for thousands of years using the resin from the lacquer tree. Lacquerware developed separately in Mexico in pre-Hispanic times using the larvae of a specific insect or the oil from chía seeds.
Diagrams in the exhibit show how the Mexican and Japanese lacquers are made and the regions of each nation which are known for their lacquerware.
An antique sewing box from Patzcuaro, Mexico and a bowl, chopsticks and glass from Japan.
A closer look at those items
An intricately decorated wooden tray from Mexico
A lacquered gourd from Mexico, decorated with gold leaf
A glass and two sake cups from Japan
One of the sake cups was decorated with the Mexican emblem of the eagle and serpent.
I wonder if it was done especially for this exhibit.
A Japanese bowl with chopsticks, and a Mexican bowl made from a calabash gourd.
From Japan, bowls with chopsticks, a set of glasses and a candelabra
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