Out of the Attic: Lacquerware Cup Julie Martineau This week’s artifact dates to 1933 and has ties to both Chicago and China. It is a reddish-orange in color, with gilt and black paint. It shows age-related cracks in the finish but is in remarkably good shape for being 87 years old. The walls of the vessel are paper-thin, and we are not quite sure what it was used for. We do know that it was mass-produced for export. The bottom is inscribed “From China. Bought at the World’s Fair, Chicago. Lacquer over silk.” The artifact is the only example that we have of its kind in our collection.