Vietnamese lacquer is comparatively lesser known to its counterpart, the lacquers of China. However like its painterly art, Vietnamese lacquer has absorbed the best part of Chinese lacquer making technique while displaying a rich art style which is unique to the aesthetics and culture of Indochina. Lacquer making involves the laborious formation of the resin, mixing of dyes to forge the traditional colour palettes of black, brown, vermilion and yellow, before finally inlaying shells or mother-of-pearl. One of the oldest forms of craft in Vietnam, lacquer making has existed since the Dong Son era (1 BC) before evolving into use for the ornamentation of palaces during the Ly Dynasty (11th Century).

However it was during the significant years of the Hanoi Academy of Fine Arts in 1925, founded by Victor Tardieu and Joseph Inguimberty, that Vietnamese lacquer truly came into its own as an independent art form. Impressed by the refined quality and potential of lacquerwork and seeing it as vastly different to anything produced in their native Europe, both teachers encouraged their students to specialise in lacquer art. This resulted in the cultivation of the new generation of lacquer artists such as Nguyen Gia Tri, the acknowledged master of this medium, Nguyen Tu Nghiem, Tran Van Ha and Nguyen Sang. Motifs were drawn from traditional painting, performance art, architectural design, handicrafts and even Western art. The images produced were classically elegant such as the works of Nguyen Gia Tri and Tran Van Ha, or modern, powerful and dynamic like those produced by Nguyen Tu Nghiem, Nguyen Sang and Le Quoc Loc. Along with the beautiful silk paintings of Vietnam, Indochinese lacquer is unsurpassed as a representation of its extraordinary culture, aesthetic skill, and narrative lineage.