The Nanjing Arts and Crafts Museum in the old city documents the city's traditional craft traditions: cloud brocade weaving, Nanjing lacquer carving, velvet flowers, and paper cutting. The museum has working demonstrations of several crafts and a shop selling genuine handmade pieces rather than factory imports.
Nanjing lacquerware (金陵金箔) — thin beaten gold leaf applied to lacquered surfaces — is among the most refined of the city's traditional crafts and has been produced here since the Yuan dynasty. The gold-beating technique was once used exclusively for imperial Buddhist images. The museum covers this history alongside the weaving and other crafts. Compact and easily visited in an hour.