Old Chinese Red retailer Cinnabar Snuff perfume Bottle Signed marked

Chinese snuff box made of Cinnabar * lacquer, decorated with Asian characters in wooded landscapes with pagodas, as well as vegetal motifs, signed below, from the 20th century.

This snuffbox is in good condition. It is signed on the base .
There is a scene with two figures, another with one figure and two dragons (one on each side detailed with fine carving and craftsmanship.
The interior spoon is intact (never used). The stopper works perfectly too.

In Europe as in India, lacquer is a substance like a gum deposited on trees by certain species of insects, such as "tachardia lacca". This substance collected on the tree has been used to imitate the lakes of far east on japanese or sinister furniture since the XVIth century. The lacquer, dehydrated and purified, contains according to the qualities up to 80% of "urushiol" (lactic acid). This material, thus pure, can be used directly as retailer a transparent substance. If it is desired to obtain a colored material, it is sufficient to add special pigments, cinnabar for red, pine or lamp soot for black, and subsequently iron sulphate for black, Arsenic for green and brown. For white, mixture of lacquer and lead carbonate (white lead), already used before our era on Chinese lacquers.

Ref. 2770