Cheryl Herding, age 14, of Watertown, N.Y., for her question:

WHEN WAS ORIENTAL LACQUER WARE FIRST MADE?

Lacquer ware is a beautiful Oriental product that is made by applying many coats of a certain varnish to such items as dishes, trays, vases, boxes and furniture. The Japanese learned the process of lacquering from China, probably in the A.D. 500s.

The true lacquer of China and Japan comes from the sap of the lacquer tree, which grows in China. But the shellac and nitrocellulose compositions made in Europe and North America are also called lacquer today.

A piece of oriental lacquer ware has a foundation of wood, sometimes as thin as paper, with perhaps 35 thin coats of black lacquer. Each coat is dried and highly polished before the next one is put on.

The pictures are drawn with powders of various colors. They are then protected with a final coat of transparent lacquer.

Good lacquer wares are works of art. They are so durable that they show no wear for hundreds of years. A collection of lacquer ware recovered from a sunken ship was exhibited in Vienna in 1878. Exposure in sea water for 18 months had failed to damage the lacquer.