纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 034中国汉族漆杯(2)

（单词翻译）

I've got it with me now. It's very light to hold, and it's less like a wine cup and more like a small serving bowl-a bowl that would hold the equivalent of a very large glass of wine. It's a shallow oval about seven inches (18 cm) long, so roughly the size and shape of a large mango. And on each of the long sides there's a gilded¹ handle, and it's these handles that give the cup its name-it's known as an ear cup. The core of the cup is wood, and through some of the damage you can just see that wood, but of course most of it's covered in layer after layer of reddish-brown lacquer.

我现在手里就拿着它，漆杯质地很轻，外形更像一个小碗，而容量相当于一个大葡萄酒杯。这是一个椭圆形的浅碗，直径约18厘米，形状与尺寸都像个大芒果。较长的两边各有一个镀金把手，酒杯因此被命名为耳杯。它整体为木制，我们能从一些破损处看到里面的木胎。大部分碗体由红棕色的漆层覆盖。

The inside is plain but the outside has been decorated with gold and bronze inlay-pairs of birds face each other, each sporting exaggerated claws against a background of geometric shapes and decorative² spirals. The whole effect is of a costly³ highly wrought⁴ object-elegant, stylish⁵, confident. Everything about it speaks of assured taste and controlled opulence⁶. Roel Sterckx, Professor of Chinese History at Cambridge, knows exactly how much effort would go into making one of these drinking cups:

内壁没有任何装饰，外壁则镶嵌黄金与青铜，并绘有数对相向而立的鸟，挥舞着它们大得夸张的鸟爪，而背景是一些几何图案及螺旋纹饰。漆杯价值高昂，工艺繁复，流露出优雅、时髦与自信。每一个细节都表现出对品位的笃定，又不显得过分奢华。制作这样的漆杯到底需要多少人力物力，剑桥大学中国史教授胡司德颇为了解：

"Lacquerware takes an enormous amount of time to make. It's a very labour-intensive and a very tedious process, because there's the extraction of the sap of the lacquer tree, followed by all sorts of procedures, mixing with all sorts of pigments⁷, letting it cure, applying successive layers on to a wooden core, to finally produce a beautiful piece. And it would have involved several sets of artisans."

漆器制作极为费时，且需要消耗大量人力，过程又十分枯燥。首先从漆树上割取汁液，然后与色素混合，晾干，再一层层涂抹在木胎上，最后才能得到美丽的成品。这需要多种手工艺人的配合。