FT-IR/ATR analysis shows that the oriental lacquer coating network degrades mostly in the unsaturated side chain. The rate of increase in carbonyl intensity (a measure of photodegradation) during the accelerated weathering test was substantially different for the unstabilized and stabilized samples; adding 2 wt% HALS into the oriental lacquer formulation enhanced photostabilization up to three times. Weight loss measurements, another indication of photodegradation, and SEM analysis support this conclusion. Despite the presence of the photo-stabilizer, the other properties of the lacquer were not significantly affected. In particular, the curing behavior of purified lacquer (PL) and HALS-stabilized samples is similar, although the in-situ DETA analysis showed that addition of HALS can slightly retard the cure reaction rate in oriental lacquer coating. It is hypothesized that this cure retardation may be related to the salt formation between HALS and acid of oriental lacquer.