Ryukyuan lacquer, like lacquerwares from other parts of East and Southeast Asia, comes in a number of standard categories: painted lacquer, carved, incised and filled in with gold, painted with gold, and inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The use of mother-of-pearl in particular is a common feature of Ryukyuan lacquers, as is the use of particular shades of red, especially as a background. However, it is generally said that the primary distinguishing feature of Ryukyuan lacquers is simply that they "appear to be neither purely Chinese on the one hand nor purely Japanese on the other."