Thank you so much to the many people who responded with helpful answers about
painting and lacquering in Kaunas. Special thanks to Howard Margolis and
Vitalija Gircyte, Chief Archivist at the Kaunas Archive.

My question was:

On the 1 January 1894 Kaunas Craftsmen List, it says of my gggrandfather Leyba

Farber: House painter and lacquerer, master, workshop at 3rd department, 8th
quarter.
--Does anyone know what 3rd department, 8th quarter means?
--Does anyone know what a house painter and lacquerer did at that time?

To summarize the responses:
Regarding painting:
He probably belonged to the guild of painters and worked as one.

Regarding lacquering:
Wood carvers and furniture-makers probably hired out the job of lacquering to
experts â?? like painters. Just because the item was lacquered did not mean it
was expensive or out of the range of the regular person. Existing items may have
had a need to be repaired and re-lacquered. In addition, the majority of the
houses were made of wood so coats of paint were necessary in order to preserve
the wood.

There's an article on Craftsmen at the following website:
http://www.jewishgen.org/Litvak/HTML/OnlineJournals/craftsmen.htm

Regarding the location in Kaunas:
The 8th Quarter was a particular section of the central part of the town.
In Lithuania, during the times of the Russian Empire, in villages, towns, and
cities Jews lived in the central part of the town. They were engaged in the
economic activities, i.e., merchants, shoemakers, tailors, etc. The gentiles
lived in the outer fringes of the town as they were mainly farmers and could be
near their crops.

Thanks again for your kind help.
Irene Galvin
Researching FLAUM, FARBER, DUSHKES - Slobodka (Vilijampole), Kovno (Kaunas)