Gold colour alone does not identify a lacquer decoration method. Shirokiya’s Aizu lacquerware museum reference separates the way a pattern is drawn from the way a line is cut. Its account provides practical vocabulary for asking a maker how an object was decorated.
Technique and structure
In the museum’s explanation, maki-e places gold or silver powder over a design drawn in lacquer. Chinkin instead begins with incised lines: lacquer is rubbed into the cuts, then gold leaf or powder is placed there to form the pattern. The Aizu account describes shallow carving with a knife made from a clock mainspring. These are different sequences of work, even when both yield a gold-coloured design; the source does not make a photograph a reliable test of which technique was used.
Keep the colour medium distinct
The reference also describes urushi-e, painting with lacquer coloured by pigments, and notes that it may be combined with maki-e. It identifies fine keshi-fun gold powder with Aizu maki-e. A product description can therefore name both a method and a material without those terms being interchangeable.
For international readers
Ask which stages and materials the maker used. These Aizu examples provide questions for a seller; identify the body and coating separately from the decoration method.
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日本語
漆と金の文様：蒔絵と沈金の仕事の違い
会津の白木屋漆器店の資料館は、漆で描いた上に金銀粉などを蒔く蒔絵と、彫った線に漆を擦り込み金箔・金粉を入れる沈金を区別しています。会津の沈金では時計のゼンマイから作る刀や浅い彫りも説明されています。金色の見た目だけで技法を断定せず、描く工程と彫る工程の違いを読むための解説です。