With our thoughts and prayers with the people of Japan, this week's term will be the same:  
Japanning.   Japanning describes the imitation of Asian lacquer-work by European  craftspeople in 18th Century England.  It is a lacquering process that  uses layers of resin varnish, similar to shellac, upon a wooden surface  to achieve a smooth glossy finish.  It would typically have Asian inspired motifs painted on the finish.
An example would be something like this:

But I think a more modern example of this idea would be this elm Wood "Dynasty" chest from Horchow:

 Or even this interesting "Joule" console, also from Horchow, which is handcrafted of wood with a silver-gilt finish:

And while she knows nothing of Japanning, a 3-month old baby Selby does seem to have mastered sunning on her recent excursion to Hawaii:

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