CHAPTER VII.

JAPAN.

How to Study Japanese Art: Its Origin.--Its Revived Independence.--Nomino-Soukoune.--Shirozayemon.--Raku.--When Porcelain was First Made.--Shonsui.--Form of Government.--The Gods.--Symbols.--“Land of Great Peace.”--Foreign Relations.--General Features of Art.--Chinese and Japanese Porcelains.

On coming to the land of Nippon, “source of the sun,” known to the outside world as Japan, we must still keep in mind the warning with which we entered China. Japanese art is of Chinese origin, but was modified as it developed. It adapted itself to Japanese tastes, and to the ideas of a people quick to imitate, but possessing a marked national individuality upon which to modify their imitations. When Chinese art began to fall under foreign influence and to renounce its own national characteristics, the more conservative Japanese offered a greater resistance to the overwhelming influx of ideas from abroad. That which had been the strength of Chinese artists now became their weakness. Foreign models gave them new subjects upon which to exercise their marvellous mechanical skill and imitative dexterity, and their artistic nationality was in a measure lost. The Japanese appeared doomed to a similar fate. Western aggressiveness made its impression, and Europe seemed to have led the extreme East captive. The death of an art distinctively Japanese was predicted by some, and by others it was said to have already taken place. These are the views of extremists. It is just possible that the Japanese derived a hint of what their own imitations were likely to be considered by the more fastidious Europeans, from their own opinion of European imitations of the decorations of China and Japan. For it must not be imagined that the imitation was all perpetrated on one side. It is no unusual thing for the frequenter of dealers’ emporiums to find a European vase surmounted by the Dog of Fo, or decorated by birds nowhere visible except to the imagination of a Celestial artist. Art cannot exist in slavery. The European borrowed, and made himself ridiculous; the Japanese imitated, and with servility found degradation. From his temporary aberration it is to be hoped he will thoroughly rouse himself. The contact with Europe which led him to follow after strange gods was not without its lessons. In later times he has shown some capacity for studying and profiting by them. It is the Japanese side of Japanese art that foreigners admire, and not the produce of a foolish combination of the Oriental with the European. It is idle, in view of what may be a lasting return to native models, to bemoan their desertion. The Japanese have already shown a capacity for appreciating their neighbors’ faults and their own merits at a proper value. Comparison is leading them to adopt a standard of criticism; and if they will only persist in cherishing their own good traditions, and in giving play to their distinctively national genius, it will certainly be better for their art, and probably for their commerce also. At the Vienna Exhibition they made the discovery that the imitation of the European had better be abandoned. At Philadelphia they gave proofs of an almost complete emancipation from foreign domination in ceramic art. There is, moreover, abundant reason for the entertainment of such a hope in the evident enlightenment pervading the councils of the Mikado. The following is the language of a Japanese writer, and it shows that the press reflects an intelligence which even that of America or Great Britain cannot afford to contemn: “The Americans and Europeans are enlightened people, and do not without cause call us semi-civilized. But what is the meaning of civilization? It surely is not limited to the possession of fine houses, fine dresses, and to sumptuous living. It is not confined to a flourishing state of its manufactures or machinery. It means an advance in knowledge and politics, a reverence for religion, the proper estimation of good character, and the observance of good customs.” The press which can convey such truths as these is not likely to neglect the national evidences of civilization furnished by the arts and manufactures. If it will not allow its readers to look for the signs of civilization upon the outside of foreign institutions, it is as little likely to overlook the best elements at home, whether in religious reverence, good customs, or in art.

To begin with the rise of the art in Japan, although legend would carry us back to the era of Oanamuchi-no-mikoto, and the inventor Oosei-tsumi, long before history begins, we may content ourselves with a less hoary antiquity. It is said that in the sixth century before Christ certain kinds of pottery were ordered by the Emperor Jinmu for religious purposes. The next five hundred years give no additional knowledge, but in B.C. 29 we learn that in the province of Id-soumi there lived a certain worker in stone and pottery called Nomino-Soukoune. The custom at that time was for slaves to be buried with their dead masters, presumably that the latter might have some one to wait upon them in the next world. When Nomino-Soukoune heard of the death of the Empress, he quickly made some images of stone or earthen-ware, and, taking them to the Emperor, induced him to bury them with the Empress as substitutes for her favorite attendants. The cruel rite was thereafter abolished, and the potter and sculptor, as a reward and distinction, was allowed to take for his surname Haji, the artist in clay. Two years later, B.C. 27, a Corean prince, a son of the King of Sin-sa, landed in “The Land of Great Peace,” and settled in the province of Omi, where his followers founded a potters’ guild. It is said that both Haji and the visitors from Corea made porcelain. But this is extremely improbable, as it was only about the same period that porcelain was invented in China, and all the evidence goes to show that the knowledge of making a translucent ware passed from China to Japan. It is, therefore, not at all likely that a secret jealously guarded by the Chinese should at once have passed to a neighboring country.

After the above date the accounts open to us become slightly contradictory. A maker of tiles is said to have come from Corea, about the year 590, to Japan, to teach his business; that about sixty years later the experiment of tiling a temple roof was first tried, and that the pagoda of a temple in Yamato was built of brick. These assertions point to a relatively backward state of ceramic art in Japan as compared with China; and if tiles and bricks were still novelties in the former country, we are quite prepared to hear that it was only in the year 724 that the monk or priest Giyoki introduced the potters’ wheel. This same individual apparently figures in another account, under the name Gyoguy, as a Corean priest of Buddha, who spread the knowledge of making “porcelain.” In the ninth century the number of factories had greatly increased; but native skill does not appear to have developed to any great extent, although an imperial official superintended the trade. Toward the earlier part of the thirteenth century, Kato Shirozayemon, not being content with the rude works he was turning out, called _Koutsi fakata_, pieces with worn orifice, undertook the journey to China, in the company of a priest named Fogen, to acquire, if possible, additional skill. In this he was successful, and on his return settled at Seto, in the province of Owari, now celebrated for its porcelain. Several authors speak of the earlier wares of Japan as porcelain; and Jacquemart says that Kato Shirozayemon returned with _all_ the secrets of the art. The question occurs, Is it likely, that, if Japan was at the beginning of our era acquainted to any extent with making porcelain, it would, after experimenting for twelve centuries, be so dependent upon Chinese teaching as to make Kato Shiro’s journey necessary? The probability is the other way. More than that, even the last named traveller cannot, without question, be conceded to have mastered the secret of making porcelain. The Japanese say that he only made stone-ware. Evidence to the same effect is deducible from a Japanese custom. Tea was not introduced from China until the beginning of the thirteenth century, about the time of Kato Shiro’s journey. In or about 1450, the Shiogun, or Tycoon, instituted the “Tea-parties” called _Cha-no-yu_. Toward the end of the sixteenth century, under Hide-yoshi, the ceremonial was improved. The guests drank out of a bowl of common pottery. These bowls were sometimes imported from Siam and other countries, and vessels of “raku” were made for the same purpose. This “raku” was a ware introduced by a Corean called Ameya, about the beginning of the sixteenth century. It is said that his descendants of the eleventh generation still pursue the trade in Kioto. Raku is nothing more than a lead-glazed earthen-ware (Fig. 111); and if porcelain was known even at that late date, it is hard to understand why the Tycoon should have honored Ameya with a gold seal for introducing the comparatively coarse raku. It is equally hard to understand why raku should have been preferred to porcelain for this special ceremonial. The fact that raku bowls are still used at the _Cha-no-yu_ is probably to be credited to the regard for a custom instituted by a Tycoon.

[Illustration: Fig. 111.--Raku Bowl; Green and Gold.

(A. A. Vantine & Co.)]

It may, further, be pointed out that the existing samples of the ware made by Giyoki, or Gyoguy, in the seventh or eighth century, and now in the temple of Todaiji, Yamato, are said to be earthen-ware. Upon the whole, it is most probable that the secrets acquired by Kato Shirozayemon did not carry him farther than the making of stone-ware, and that real porcelain was not made in Japan until between the years 1530 and 1540, or about fifty years prior to the date of the discovery of artificial porcelain in Europe. About that time Goro-dayu Shonsui, a native of Ise, went to China, and, on returning from a lengthened investigation, settled in Hizen, and instituted the manufacture of porcelain. So thoroughly had he mastered the processes of China, that he succeeded in producing all the wares which to-day give Hizen its pre-eminence, viz.: Sometsuki, porcelain decorated with blue paintings under the glaze; crackle; céladon ware; red Akai ware; and “Nishikide” porcelain, decorated with vitrifiable colors upon the glaze. Japan incurred, however, still further debts to Corea. In 1592 a number of Corean porcelain makers were taken to Japan, and their descendants still live in Arita. About the same time the Prince of Satsuma invaded Corea, and took several families engaged in the porcelain industry back with him. To these settlers Japan is indebted for its well-known Satsuma ware. Through all these different channels Japan derived its knowledge of ceramic processes from China and Corea, and was enabled not only to equal, but in many respects to surpass, both its teachers.

[Illustration: Fig. 112.--Kiri-mon.]

[Illustration: Fig. 113.--Guik-mon.]

It is unnecessary for our purpose to enter fully into an examination of the government of Japan. The central power is the Mikado, descendant of the gods, political and ecclesiastical head of the government. The Tycoon was the executive head, but was expelled a few years ago. What is here to be chiefly observed is, that in the Mikado centres the loyalty of his people, a loyalty based upon tradition and sanctified by religion. The Mikado’s arms are twofold, the (Fig. 112) Kiri-mon--official, and the (Fig. 113) Guik-mon--personal, the former being the flower and leaves of the _Paullownia imperialis_, the latter that of the chrysanthemum. The Tycoon’s arms (Fig. 114) consisted of three mallow leaves.

[Illustration: Fig. 114.--Arms of the Tycoon.]

The religion of Japan, apart from its symbolism, has little appreciable influence upon its pottery, possibly on account of the comparatively late and rapid growth of the ceramic art. The original religion was Kamism or Shintoism, the worship of ancestors. This is the religion upheld by the Mikados. Upon it Buddhism was in-grafted, and supported by the Tycoons. The two harmonized well, thanks to Japanese toleration, but their combination presents many a curious puzzle. The Japanese cosmogony is simple. Heaven and earth were evolved out of chaos, and then the presence of controlling power being necessary, the gods came. At first there were only three, but afterward seven generations of gods and goddesses succeeded each other, and from the last pair of these came Sin-mon, the founder of Japan. The seven household gods concern us more in looking at Japanese ceramics. These represent the physical wants of the people, and correspond with the Chinese god of longevity and his compeers. The first, Ben-zai-ten-njo, or Benten, is the Madonna of Japan, the ideal matron; Quamon, queen of heaven, appears to be the ideal of happiness; Yebis is a jovial marine god, the food provider, and is generally represented with long legs, claws, drapery of marine origin, and riding on a dolphin. Hotei, a portly, complacent deity, is the very picture and god of contentment. A totally different being, short, thick, and almost lost in his clothes and under the burden of his wealth, is Daikoku, the god of riches. Shion-ro, with long beard, placid face, and towering cranium, is the god of longevity. He leans upon a staff, and is attended by either a tortoise or a stork. He is evidently a relative of the Chinese Cheou-lao. Tossi-toku, with staff and fawn, is the dispenser of knowledge. The last and least esteemed of the seven is the strong, armor-clad Bis-ja-mon, god of glory. Who shall say that there is not philosophy in a religion which thus holds up military glory almost to contempt, and discriminates between riches and contentment? Besides the gods here mentioned there is a host of demons which need not be enumerated, and which, with the household deities, are met with under the most fantastic forms and in the most ridiculous situations, for, according to Japanese ideas, ridicule did not necessarily involve impiety.

[Illustration: Fig. 115.--Japanese Porcelain Bowl. Diameter, 3 ft. 7 in.

(Corcoran Art Gallery.)]

The symbols of Japan are nearly all taken from China. The imperial dragon, though having only three claws, is closely allied to the four and five clawed dragons of China. The Ky-lin and Dog of Fo both reappear, and the Fong-hoang, or Foo, again presents itself with added elegance of form and supreme beauty of plumage. Another bird, resembling an eagle, deserves its title of imperial from its majesty of gait and expression, and seems in perfect keeping with its accompanying noble emblems. The sacred tortoise has a long feathery and fan-like tail, and appears in numberless compositions. The crane, turtle, pine, and bamboo are the emblems of longevity.

In view of all that Japan owes to China and Corea--a great part of its religion, its knowledge of art processes, and its symbols, one would expect to find little that is original in its ceramics. There is, on the other hand, often visible a decided individuality and independence. Japan absorbed and transmuted, while apparently engrossed in copying. The process of assimilation, of bringing the foreign suggestion into subjection to native principles, took time; but even while Japan was in its pupilage, its national character was asserting itself. Its history and position show alike the favorable conditions under which its art grew up. After the aboriginal Ainos had been once subdued by their Asiatic conquerors, history substantiates the claim of Japan to the title of “The Land of Great Peace.” It is true that revolution has of late years changed the form of government by the removal of the Tycoon; but from the beginning of the historical period, B.C. 660, to the civil wars which preceded the establishment of the Tycoons nearly three hundred years ago, there was no war of any consequence. After that event, and down to the return of the executive authority into the hands of the Mikado, there was another long peace. The Japanese, be it again observed, cared little for their god of glory, Bis-ja-mon. Isolation and freedom from the disturbing consequences of war gave the Japanese an opportunity of cultivating the arts of peace with a constantly increasing show of independence, even when the art was based upon a foreign foundation.

In viewing their earliest ceramic productions, there is some difficulty in distinguishing them from those of China and Corea, and this difficulty is increased when we find upon their vases scenes from the court life of China, and a great deal of borrowed ornamentation. In both countries it is said that the ceramic art rose to its highest point in the sixteenth century, and then, we are told, declined. This date may, in the case of Japan, be safely advanced to the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Japan was even then not independent of its teachers, and suffered from the influences adverse to art which affected them. The Portuguese were the first nation to trade with Japan, and were expelled in 1637. The tolerant Japanese, who were willing to make room for any religion containing the seeds of good, could brook neither intolerance nor interference with their civil government. Portuguese intrigue accordingly led to expulsion and the massacre of forty thousand converts to Christianity.

Specimens of “Christian” porcelain, made apparently by the Chinese for the persecuted of Japan, are still in existence, and may be seen in many American collections. After the Portuguese came the Dutch. Had the latter restricted themselves to trading in porcelain, it would have been better for Japanese art. Instead of doing so, they tried to imitate the native wares, and, which was far worse, commissioned the native artists to adopt European styles and to attempt to gratify the whims of European taste and fashion. We cannot wonder that art declined, but are rather led to be surprised that the decline was not more speedy and permanent.

The points of difference between the porcelain of China and Japan may be briefly stated after the general features of Japanese art have been examined. It is to the American a peculiar art. It does not touch our admiration like the Greek for the truthful working out of its ideal forms, nor for the ideals themselves. It does not imbue us with a sense of the mysterious like that of Egypt. We can all admire its wonderful coloring and its perfection of finish; but besides these there is a fascination in the exuberant fancy, richness of invention, and happy blending of tints. The Japanese are true to nature, far more so than the Chinese; but they do not copy nature in every detail. In their best work we will often find that, with a peculiar delicacy, the artist merely indicates what an American or European artist would feel it incumbent upon him to represent. The former holds our attention by leaving it to the imagination to make his work complete. This will suggest what is actually the case--that, as a rule, form is secondary to color.

Japanese porcelain and pottery differ from those of China in the following general respects: perspective is permissible in painting; as a rule, there is greater simplicity of design, and the ornamentation is more chaste and less profuse; and, as already noticed, nature is more closely followed. To explain the greater purity and refinement of Japanese art, there are three points to be noticed. While the Chinese degraded art by degrading the artists, the best and noblest Japanese were themselves artists. Princes are said to have engaged in lacquer-work. The Chinese lowered ceramic art into a merely mechanical pursuit, by dividing the different parts of the ornamentation among several workmen. Artistic conception was almost lost sight of where mechanical finish was thus painfully sought. The Japanese give us the creations of individual men, who bring their own marvellous industrial skill to the expression of their own ideas. The third advantage which they possessed was that already incidentally referred to, viz., the prevalence of hereditary occupations. It has been seen that descendants, of the eleventh generation, of Coreans who settled in Japan as workers in stone-ware are now engaged in the same pursuit. The transmission of technical knowledge was thus amply provided for.

Possessing such advantages and tendencies, the Japanese surpassed the Chinese in several respects. That they do so to-day, the Centennial Exhibition, even making a due allowance for the superior organization of the Japanese section as a government representation, placed beyond all question or cavil. This truth is one to which ceramists, undeceived by the exaltation of China and the treatment of Japan as a mere offshoot, should not be strangers. In lacquer-work the Japanese have always been superior, and at the Exhibition one of the best specimens in the Chinese section was from Japan. The lacquer was so laid on that the ornamentation on the underlying porcelain disclosed itself, and animal forms in red and gold decorated the lacquer. Similar acknowledgments of the excellence of Japanese porcelain have been otherwise made. The Chinese sometimes copy Japanese decoration. Further evidence is not wanting, and has been referred to under China, of the rarity and high value of Japanese porcelain in China.

In any event, the time for servile imitation has passed with all that was worth imitating. Instead of devoting themselves, as the Chinese have done for two hundred years, to vain attempts at rivalling the attainments of their ancestors, the Japanese have shown an inclination to return to their old and renounced standards as bases from which to reach a new originality. They are, in one word, progressive in the best sense. Instead of nineteenth century representations of the works of the seventeenth, it may reasonably be hoped that the present day will disclose an art at once national and its own.

POTTERY.

Geographical Distribution.--Classification.--Satsuma.--Difficult Ware.--Saki Cups.--Imitations of Satsuma.--Kioto.--Awata.--Awadji.--Banko.--Kiusiu.--Karatsu.--Suma.

[Illustration: Fig. 116.--Satsuma Vase. Dragon in Red and Gold. Height, 16½ in. (Boston Museum of Fine Arts.)]

The ceramic industry of Japan is chiefly, if not entirely, confined to the southern half of the empire. A line drawn from Tokio (Yeddo) to Kaga is its northern limit, and between that line and Satsuma, one of the two most southerly provinces of the island of Kiusiu, the manufacture is pretty evenly distributed. The great centres are Kiusiu, in which are Hizen and Satsuma; Kioto, round which are clustered the prominent names of Awadji, Hiogo, Idsumi, and Nara; Owari and Mino; Kaga, including Kutani, Yamashiro, and in the adjoining province of Echizen, the village of Ota; and, lastly, Tokio, including Yokohama. From these five centres come nearly all the wares which have of late years become so familiar in the American markets. These wares are now known exclusively by the name of the place of manufacture or the inventor. Whatever rule may have been followed in the past, it is now therefore evident, that hereafter Japanese pottery and porcelain must be treated after a method precisely similar to that followed in discussing the wares of France or of England, where, instead of families, we have Sèvres, Limoges, Palissy, Worcester, Derby, and Wedgwood.

[Illustration: Fig. 117.--Satsuma Vase. (A. Belmont Coll.)]

The Japanese have an endless variety of earthen-ware made for household use. Of this class some pieces are left unglazed, and others have a very fusible plumbeous glaze, under which painted decorations are sometimes to be seen. Of their semi-porcellaneous, highly refractory potteries, the two best known in America are the Satsuma and Awata. The former (Fig. 116) is so called from the province of that name, in the south of the island of Kiusiu, where it has been made at or near Kagoshima for nearly three hundred years. The latter is made in one of the suburbs of Kioto, in Central Japan. The clay is kaolinic, and the glaze felspathic, but not of the purity of porcelain; and, as a consequence, they do not fuse to the same extent. The body and glaze not being perfectly homogeneous, the latter presents a fine net-work of cracks. The beautiful and soft buff color of the Satsuma ware is its first characteristic. The ornamentation generally consists of birds and flowers delicately outlined and colored. The chrysanthemum, the pæonia, pheasants, and peacocks are especially abundant. This ware is extensively used in the making of tea-sets, charming alike in form and color. So light are the pieces that it is difficult to persuade one’s self that they are not porcelain. The shapes are quaint, and suggestive of flower-cups and leaves. One style of decoration may be taken as typical. The delicious creamy buff paste, covered with crackle glaze, is sprinkled with gold, after a manner in which the Japanese have no equals. On this rich but delicate ground are many-colored flowers, birds, or insects, which harmonize admirably with the shape of the cups. In America so much beauty could be possessed only by the rich. In Japan almost any one may be its owner. A feature distinctive of Japanese art is, that it attempts to reach every grade, high as well as low; and that art, being valued for its own sake, and not purely for its commercial value, is brought to the embellishment of the lowly object as well as of the intrinsically rich.

[Illustration: Fig. 118.--Satsuma Vase. Very Fine Crackle. Decoration: leaves brown, veined with gold. Height, 15 in. (R. H. Pruyn Coll.)]

Another product of Satsuma is called “difficult ware,” from the extreme nicety of the operation performed in making it. In this the body is coarser than in that last mentioned. The ground is similarly prepared, and upon it are laid in relief flowers and birds of fine porcellaneous paste. The technical difficulties attending the production of such ware are obvious. By what ingenuity does the Japanese artist overcome the difference between decorating material and body? A precisely similar style of decoration is employed on many household vessels of earthen-ware or majolica. In these very fine effects are secured by the choice of a sombre ground, from which the porcelain flowers and animals stand out in clear and bold relief. The best Satsuma ware and crackle are perfect marvels of color. The decoration bears a general resemblance to that already described, but is finer. The cracks are scarcely visible, the gold is more cloud-like and fleeting, and the floral ornamentation is more tropically luxuriant. In the higher qualities of crackle, the paste and glaze differ widely in composition, in order that deeper and more distinct cracks may be produced; and tangled in the web are wreaths of green, purple, crimson, and blue flowers mingled with gold. A totally different style of decoration is seen on many cylindrical vases, and shows that the Japanese artists have a clear perception of the subtle harmony existing between form and ornament. In these, to be in sympathy with the simple shape, the designs are bolder, and the colors are laid on with a freer hand.

[Illustration: Fig. 119.--Satsuma Vase. Height, 7½ in. (J. W. Paige Coll., Boston Museum of Fine Arts.)]

The Satsuma paste varies in tint from buff to a cold and dark shade of brown; but the decoration of the latter is, as a rule, decidedly inferior. The shapes are manifold, and are generally characterized by simplicity and elegance. When the potter turns to intricate designs, his skill in manipulating the clay seems almost boundless. This feature is more remarkable in the older pieces than in those of more recent date, and is well illustrated in the vase on page 167 (Fig. 117), where a series of thin loose rings gives the piece an appearance altogether unique. The vase from Mr. Robert H. Pruyn’s collection (Fig. 118) is presumably from the Prince’s workshop, and is an excellent example of the refinement of Japanese taste. Full effect is given to the admirable workmanship displayed in the basket-work moulding, which is relieved, but not concealed, by the ivy decoration. A more prevalent style is exemplified by the vase (Fig. 119) in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The flowers appear to grow from the base to the neck, where a single flower and a few green leaves are left to finish the bouquet. The piece is a rare specimen both in regard to fineness of paste and the delicate treatment of the flower decoration. It belongs to the large class which is illustrative of the Japanese preference of flowers before figures, and of the careful fidelity with which the former are treated. They lead one to think that in the Japanese workshop the “Feast of Flowers” knew no end.

A singular example of Satsuma ware--so singular both in body and ornamentation as almost inevitably to suggest a doubt of its coming from the same workshop--is the Sutton vase (Fig. 120). The decoration is in high relief, and stands out strongly against the brown ground. There are many fine examples of designs executed in relief. These assume the forms of turtles, fishes, frogs, lizards, and crabs, carefully modelled and truthfully colored. On pieces of a religious character the gods of the Japanese pantheon are moulded in bold relief. The same idea is occasionally carried out to a fuller extent by moulding the piece itself after a natural form. Thus we find trays shaped like leaves, cups like lotus leaves, teapots like melons, and one remarkable specimen in the form of an elephant, with a saddle brilliantly painted on grounds of red and gold.

[Illustration: Fig. 120.--Satsuma Faience. Buff and Gold; Decoration in Relief. (J. F. Sutton Coll.)]

The religious vessels are very often elaborately decorated. Incense jars have figures of the gods; the turtle, symbolical of longevity; and medallions of flowers surrounded by borders of green, crimson, and gold; or we may find the gods Shiou-ro and Tossi-toku, of longevity and wisdom, in a landscape; or combats between gods and demons; or a mixed assemblage of priests and gods. When the figures of the gods are painted on the inside, the value of the piece may be estimated by the delicacy of the figure-painting. Hotei, the god of contentment, and Yebis, are thus figured on the inside of bowls; and sometimes there are priests and women; or gods and dragons may be seen on the inside and priests on the outside. Satsuma ware is also found in round, oval, or leaf-like plaques, on which are religious and other subjects.

More frequently in Kaga or Kutani porcelain, but sometimes also in Satsuma ware, will be found what are called “Saki” cups. Saki, or Sake, is the chief alcoholic drink of Japan, and is made from rice. It is drunk hot at meals from the cups known by its name. The size of these pieces precludes excessive decoration, and the artist concentrates his efforts upon fineness of execution and finish.

Satsuma ware is imitated at Kioto, Yokohama, and elsewhere; and there is little doubt that pieces from these and other centres make their appearance in America under the adopted and better known name. There are no safeguards against deception but the character of the dealer and the good taste and judgment of the collector.

[Illustration: Fig. 121.--Kioto Faience Censer. (A. A. Vantine & Co.)]

The Kioto pottery is scarcely inferior to the Satsuma. In the specimen given below (Fig. 122) the creamy ground is covered with a kaleidoscopic mingling of colors--yellow and purple chrysanthemums and cloudy masses of gold--and in the foreground is a cock with brilliant plumage. Other specimens are seen in Figs. 121 and 123.

Awata ware is made at Kioto, and is of more recent origin than the Satsuma, from which it differs chiefly in the more pronounced tint of its prevailing yellow color. From the latter characteristic it has been called “egg pottery.” In the older pieces the style of decoration is entirely different from the Satsuma. The colors used were few in number and neutral in tone. More recently the artists of Kioto have resorted to imitations of Satsuma and porcelain decorations, and of European styles.

[Illustration: Fig. 122.--Kioto Vase. Very Brilliant Colors. Height, 18 in. (Boston Museum of Fine Arts.)]

Awadji, an island lying between Shikoku and Hiogo on the main-land, produces a ware closely allied to the Satsuma. The glaze is similar, and the kaolinic paste is made from ground granite found on the island. The body-tint is an extremely soft yellow, the cracks are usually fine, and the painting, outlined in black, is decided in character. From the same place comes a strong stone-ware, either with a glaze containing oxide of copper or covered with a slip. The cracks are few in number, and the prevailing colors are green and russet.

The above names, it will be observed, are taken from the places of manufacture. The Banko-yaki is so called from the inventor, and is made in the province of Ise. The paste is a strong, tough brown clay, on the unglazed surface of which enamel painting is laid. Very curious tea-sets, wonderfully light and thin, considering the quality of the paste, are made of this material. They are finished by hand, and the marks of the potter’s fingers are distinctly visible on the clay. These sets are favorites with the tea-drinkers of Japan. The white clay of Ise is also used for pieces which come in biscuit. When mingled with brown clay, the result is a peculiar mottled ware which has been extensively made within the past few years. The Banko tea-sets are sometimes moulded into imitations of the lotus leaf.

[Illustration: Fig. 123.--Kioto Faience. Brown, Red, and Green on Buff. (J. F. Sutton Coll.)]

[Illustration: Fig. 124.--Kiusiu Earthen-ware. Blue on Purple. Height, 15 in. (A. A. Vantine & Co.)]

The ware called “Kiusiu” takes its name from the island already mentioned, but the exact place of its manufacture is not more specifically stated. The illustration (Fig. 124) exemplifies a large division of this pottery, which has designs more or less intricate graved in the paste, and painted purple or plum and turquoise blue. Some of the finer pieces have floral and emblematic incisions, and upon the mingled blue and plum are chrysanthemums and vines in lacquer.

Karatsu is a town in the province of Hizen, and gives its name to a buff ware, somewhat resembling in appearance the darker qualities of Satsuma. It is finely crackled, and the designs are exceedingly varied. The tenacity of the fine paste is exemplified in the reticulated vase (Fig. 125), in which frequent changes in the pattern lighten, by variety, the sombre character of the piece. It will be observed that the inner surface is also decorated, and we are thus furnished with another of the frequently recurring evidences of inexhaustible Oriental patience. All the examples of this ware that we have seen are covered with very minute cracks like those overspreading the Satsuma. The paintings on tea-jars and incense-pots consist usually of flowers, insects, vines, or bamboos sometimes arranged in panels or medallions.

[Illustration: Fig. 125.--Karatsu Vase. Reticulated Buff Crackle. (J. F. Sutton Coll.)]

[Illustration: Fig. 126.--Suma Earthen-ware. Blue Slate Color; Black, Red, and Reddish-brown Decoration. (A. A. Vantine & Co.)]

It is unnecessary to do more than enumerate the wares of Suma, or Soma, Nara, Ota, Idsumi, and Kaga, or Kutani, some of which approach translucent porcelain so nearly as to be entitled to be classed with it. The specimen (Fig. 126) is chosen for illustration for a very simple reason. The body is a common coarse earthen-ware, manipulated with very moderate skill, and the color is in no respect remarkable. But in the disposal of the grape-vine decoration, and the drawing and attitude of the bird, there is nothing more simple and tasteful to be seen on the finest Hizen porcelain. In spite of the humble material, the artist compels our admiration. It is the same wherever we turn. Art is for all, the lowly as well as the rich, and embellishes every object, the humble as well as the most costly.

There are simple vessels, teapots, and cups of clay, thin as Banko ware, and left unglazed, which for very oddity and perfection of workmanship are worthy of a place in any collection. Mr. Sutton has two pieces of this character. One is a teapot shaped like a partially folded leaf, having its sides drawn together to form the spout. The lid is like an elongated shell, and is thin and light as a leaf. The other is also a teapot, and resembles a transverse section of the trunk of a tree. In such cases the artist is lost sight of in the workman. The pieces have neither grace of form nor beauty of color, but they attract us by the evidences they present of human skill contending with difficulty for the mere satisfaction of overcoming it. They are triumphs of dexterity and curiosities of design, and, though rare, are thoroughly representative of a large section of Japanese ceramic art. In its simplest as well as its most beautiful forms, nature is the promptress of the Japanese artist (Fig. 127). We see it in such works as those last described equally with the gorgeous flowers and drooping vine, and in it have the key to the infinite variety of the art of Japan.

[Illustration: Fig. 127.--Satsuma Vase. Decoration, Green and Red. Height, 13 in. (Robert H. Pruyn Coll.)]

PORCELAIN.

Leading Differences between Japanese and Chinese.--Sometsuki Blue.--Ware for Export.--Gosai, or Nishikide.--Arita, or Hizen.--Families.--Decoration.--Modern Hizen.--Seidji.--Kioto.--Eraku.--Kaga.--Portraiture.--Owari. --Lacquer.--Cloisonné.--Rose Family.--Early Styles: Indian: Dutch Designs.--General Characteristics of Japanese Art.

In porcelain, even to a more marked degree than in pottery, the peculiarities of Japanese art are noticeable. It brings before us, in their greatest perfection, the careful attention to finish, the harmonizing of the most minute detail with the general design, the boundless variety of form, and the general tendency to subordinate the latter to ornamentation and color. The porcelain is less capable of resisting heat than that of the Chinese.

[Illustration: Fig. 128.--Japanese Porcelain Plaque. (W. L. Andrews Coll.)]

The leading differences between the porcelains of the two countries are that the Japanese is of a purer white and finer quality, that its glaze has a bluish tint, that the Japanese forms are usually better, and that the extravagancies of Chinese decoration are toned down. The chief kinds of porcelain are the Hizen (also called Imari and Arita), the Owari, Kioto, Mino, and Kaga. That made at all these places, except Kaga, belongs chiefly to the kind called Blue Sometsuki, in which the body is decorated before glazing with painting in blue derived from cobalt. This is the leading ware for home consumption. Two of the largest and finest specimens that ever reached America were the immense vases and basins sent to the Centennial Exhibition. Reference has been made, under China, to the difference between the blue-and-white of Nankin and that of Japan, viz., that the white of the latter is purer and the blue less transparent. This may be accounted for in part by the inferiority of the cobaltiferous ore of Japan, a circumstance which has led to the importation of Chinese material, and in part by the preparation of the paste. After being thrown or moulded, dried and turned, the piece is covered with pure white clay, and then fired. The blue is afterward laid upon the clay coating, and the piece is then glazed and fired a second time. By the use of the _engobe_, the brilliancy of the blue is thought to be enhanced, and the purity of the white must certainly be heightened. The glaze is always felspathic, and is said to be less vitreous than that of China. Like the Chinese, who made a specific ware for the “Sea-devils”--a euphonious title under which all Europeans were classed--the Japanese export from Hizen the same kind of porcelain as that above described, but decorated with bright enamel colors on the glaze, and specially designed for the foreign trade. The preparation and application of the enamels have been described elsewhere. Paintings in relief are produced by first laying on the parts to be colored a white enamel of powdered glass and stone, and white-lead. This ware, once called “Gosai,” and now “Nishikide,” is made at Arita, and was taken to Nagasaki, and thence to the island of Desima, at the time when the old Dutch traders had their settlement there. It is, therefore, this porcelain that the Dutch first carried to Europe. That we may have a clear view of the early condition of the industry, we must bear in mind that it was in Hizen Shonsui put in practice the knowledge he had acquired in China. It may, therefore, be expected that the older specimens will show signs of Chinese teaching. That such is the case may be inferred from the grouping usually resorted to in dividing Japanese porcelain into Chrysanthemo-Pæonian and Rose families.

The place of manufacture of many of the pieces belonging to the first of these families is authenticated by the peculiar Japanese symbols, such as the Imperial bird, the _guikmon_, the Imperial three-clawed dragon, the crane, bamboo, and other emblems of longevity; and also occasionally by the pieces being decorated with legendary subjects. One of the latter is decorated in part with a water-fall, and a carp leaping upward. The latter is a symbol borrowed from China. Mr. Griffis says of it: “The koi (carp) leaping the water-fall is a symbol of aspiration and ambition, and an augury of renown. The origin of the symbol is Chinese. In an old book it is said that the sturgeon of the Yellow River make an ascent of the stream in the third moon of each year, when those which succeed in passing above the rapids of the Lung Men become transformed into (white) dragons.” The same writer relates that when Kiyomori was on his way to view Kumano water-fall, a carp leaped out of the river upon the deck of his state barge, and gave rise to much rejoicing as an auspicious omen.

[Illustration: Fig. 129.--Old Imari Porcelain. (A. A. Vantine & Co.)]

[Illustration: Fig. 130.--Japanese Dish. Ground, Red and Blue; Figures, Green and Gold. Diameter, 11 in. (Robert H. Pruyn Coll.)]

The paste and glaze of the older examples of Hizen are inferior to the Chinese, the former being thick and comparatively coarse, as we find it in the accompanying specimen (Fig. 129). Such are the early vases of the Chrysanthemo-Pæonian family. They represent, apparently, the struggles of workmen attempting to apply recently acquired knowledge to native material: a further proof that when the Dutch opened their trade with Japan the porcelain industry was still in its infancy. That the manufacture improved with great rapidity is evident from such examples as the dish (Fig. 130), an admirable specimen of early Gosai, or Nishikide. Only five colors were employed in its decoration: black for the outlines; red, green, gold, and blue, as we find them on Mr. Pruyn’s dish, where the design in green and gold is laid upon a ground of red and blue.

In modern times the porcelain of Hizen includes some of the best coming from Japan. To it we owe those exquisite specimens of a double art, trays and vessels of porcelain, decorated with flowers and birds in raised enamels, encased in a cover of bamboo wicker-work.

The rich beauty of the coloring of Hizen porcelain is indescribable. One vase has birds and flowers freely disposed over its surface; another has reserved panels with birds and chrysanthemums in relief, and a third has birds and flowers on a ground of gold, and set in an open border. The desire to imitate objects in shape as well as color animates the porcelain makers of Hizen equally with the potters of Satsuma. We find bowls in the form of chrysanthemums, with the turtle, emblem of longevity, on the cover. One of these is decorated with stripes of blue, red, green, and yellow, and the favorite flowers and insects in enamel colors. The rare and very handsome example of the striped style of decoration here given (Fig. 131) was obtained at the Lyons sale, and is presumed to be Hizen. The ground is a rich, clear blue, and the cranes, foam of the sea, and stripes on the neck are in white relief. One is anxious to find the sentiment embodied in such admirable work; and it is possible that the piece may originally have been meant to convey a wish for long life--by its symbol, the crane--amidst the mutations of life, symbolized by the foam of the ever-changing sea.

[Illustration: Fig. 131.--Hizen Vase. Blue Ground; White Decoration. Height, 13½ in. (Mrs. J. V. L. Pruyn Coll.)]

[Illustration: Fig. 132.--Japanese Porcelain Vase. (H. C. Gibson Coll.)]

Another piece, about which nothing certain is known, is the vase (Fig. 132) from Mr. Gibson’s collection. It is a marvel of patient and skilful labor, and tells its story, no doubt, if the means of reading it were only within reach. The lattice of gold hangs as fine as gossamer over the figures, with sufficient transparency to leave the inside scene distinctly visible.

To return to the modern pieces known to be Hizen, the bowls above mentioned are supplemented by others shaped like pomegranates, and profusely decorated, sometimes both inside and outside, with flowers, insignia, and the imperial bird, or with vines and flowers in gold and crimson. All family relationship is forgotten in the boundless variety of the designs. A charming illustration of the refined taste of the porcelain manufacturers of Arita was shown at the Centennial Exhibition. It consisted of a set of three small oviform vases of a very delicate blue tint, and having white dragons for handles.

The ware called Seidji is the Japanese _céladon_, and is decorated after the style seen in China, _i. e._, with designs graved in the paste. It has been made in Hizen ever since Shonsui settled in that province (A.D. 1580).

Leaving Arita, in the mean time, there are several other centres demanding notice. The blue Sometsuki is also made in Owari and Kioto. With the latter is associated a distinctive ware called Eraku, from its inventor, in which gold decoration is laid upon a red ground. When Indian-ink and the colors of the Nishikide are found on Kioto porcelain, it resembles very closely that of Hizen. Green, blue, and gold are frequently mingled. As in other Japanese centres, the tendency to seek nature, either for suggestion or imitation, manifests itself at Kioto. Vases with crabs and shells, moulded and painted from nature, remind us of the “Palissy pottery, with raised fishes and fruit,” of which Sir R. Alcock speaks.

[Illustration: Fig. 133.--Kaga Ware. Decoration, Red and Gold. (A. A. Vantine & Co.)]

Somewhat similar to Eraku is the porcelain of Kaga. One quality (Fig. 133) of the latter has gold decorations on red or black grounds, mingled with flowers or birds traced either in red or black, according to the ground. On another quality the painting outlined in black is executed in enamel colors, resembling those already described as in use at Arita. The result is exceedingly rich. One specimen is described by Mr. Jarves (“Art of Japan”), and is in the possession of Mr. Sutton, of New York. On the outside are two men holding a conversation on the bank of a stream. In the inside, in Chinese characters--adopted by the Japanese in the third century--of the minutest size, is the following explanatory legend: “Kutzen had already taken his leave, and was wandering by the side of the river, in a sorrowful and dejected manner, when he met a fisherman, who said, ‘Why do you come here? You are the chief retainer of King Sâ.’ Then Kutzen replied, ‘The men of the world are all alike, and as impure water, but I am pure; they are all drunk, but I am sober; therefore I come here.’ Then the fisherman said, ‘An ancient sage has said, that if we mix and associate with the men of the world, we shall become as impure as they are; if they are all drunk, we shall be drunk also, and drink the sediment of their drink; if they are dirty, we shall be dirty also, and stir up the mud.’ Then Kutzen replied, ‘It is an ancient saying, that when we dress our hair, we necessarily rub the dust off our cap; when we bathe in hot water, we necessarily shake the dust off our clothes; thus, when our hearts become pure, we shake off all defilement. I would rather throw myself into the river, and become food for the fishes, than to be defiled by thee!’ Then the fisherman went away smiling, and, striking the gunwale of his boat, sang: ‘So, when the waters of Soro are clean, I will wash my cap-strings; when the waters of Soro are dirty, I will wash my feet.’”

Another cup, also in Mr. Sutton’s collection, of a somewhat similar shape, _i. e._, narrow and high, has the inside almost entirely covered with these minute characters. It is well-nigh impossible to trace with the eye those near the bottom, and an estimate can thus be made of the difficulty of forming them with the brush.

The decoration particularly characteristic of Kaga porcelain is the multiplication of portraits. Occasionally we find medallions of flowers set in colored borders, or fishes on the inside of both vessel and cover, and vines and flowers on the outside; but the style most intimately associated with Kaga is the marvellously minute and highly finished painting of a crowd of faces. We have seen whole tea-sets thus covered with what were said to be portraits of the poets of the Mikado’s empire, executed with the most perfect finish upon a ground of pure gold. On the inside of one shallow dish there were no fewer than sixty-five portraits, on a ground of gold, and on the outside was a landscape set in flowers. A plaque of the same ware had eighty figures, on a gold ground, surrounding a medallion with flying birds. The porcelain chosen for these curious and wonderful works is generally thick and of inferior quality, but the effect of the red and gold grounds, occasionally alternated with blue, is unquestionably rich.

[Illustration: Fig. 134.--Owari Porcelain, decorated at Yeddo. (Yoshida Kiyonari Coll.)]

At Owari, the favorite colors would appear to be deep-blue and white, the former being generally used as a ground, the latter for ornamentation. The seat of the manufacture is Seto, a village near Nagoya, the chief town of the province of Owari. Many of the heavy vessels now manufactured at Seto have no artistic quality to recommend them, but smaller specimens of great beauty may occasionally be met with. A small vase, for example, has the base of deep blue, the body of a paler shade, and the upper part deepening into a purplish tint. In some cases the white decoration is in relief.

The porcelain and pottery reaching us from Yeddo (Fig. 134), or Tokio, is largely composed of the different provincial products. They are taken to that city to be decorated, and it is almost impossible in the great majority of cases to specify the place of manufacture.

Two remarkable methods of decorating porcelain bring us to lacquer-work and cloisonné enamel. Lacquer is a sap or gum drawn by tapping from the _Rhus vernicifera_, a tree cultivated for this special purpose throughout the entire southern half of Japan. After settling, the lacquer is mixed with certain coloring and hardening powders, and strained. The black quality is made by exposing the viscous gum for a few days to the open air, and then diluting it with water which has been for some time mixed with iron filings. The greater part of the water is then allowed to evaporate, and the process having been completed, the lacquer is ready for use. The ornamentation consists either of mother-of-pearl, ivory, or metal sunk into the lacquer before it hardens, or of painting. A pair of tall Arita vases (Fig. 135) which were exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition are examples of this work. Cloisonné enamel on porcelain (Figs. 136 and 137) is to be regarded chiefly as a curiosity of workmanship, and as an example of the irresistible tendency discoverable in Japanese artists to cope with mechanical difficulty, since the very same effects are produced with greater ease upon a metal base. Fine metallic lines divide the surface into spaces or cells shaped according to the details of the design, and are fixed to the biscuit by means of a fusible glass. The compartments are then filled with vitrifiable enamels. These adhere after firing, and help in keeping the cells in position. The chief places of manufacture are Owari, Kioto, Osaka, and Tokio.

[Illustration: Fig. 135.--Lacquer on Arita Porcelain. Height, 8 ft. 8 in. (Corcoran Art Gallery.)]

[Illustration: Fig. 136.--Tokio Cloisonné Enamel. (Sutton Coll.)]

The system of classification which has hitherto been followed has been adopted mainly in view of the modern manufactures of Japan. In looking at its more ancient wares, the place of manufacture being, us a rule, unknown, the method of assortment usually adopted is that based upon general characteristics and marked features of resemblance.

Following the Chinese parallel, there are, as we have said, Chrysanthemo-Pæonian and Rose families, but no Green. The symbols, whether consisting of flowers or animals, are the best and safest indications of the origin of the piece. Many of the finest specimens belong to the Rose family, and it may as well be stated at the outset that, in spite of the most careful examination, it is sometimes impossible to ascribe its representatives to a certain origin, and to discriminate between the works belonging to China and those of Japan. It follows, that the finer pieces are at least equal to anything China has produced. The Japanese used to say that human bones formed one of the ingredients of the paste, and a meaning can easily be found for the phrase in the vast amount of labor demanded by its preparation. Specimens of the best qualities are as plentiful in Europe as in Japan: perhaps they may become more so, should the revival now expected not fulfil the hopes entertained regarding it.

[Illustration: Fig. 137.--Owari Cloisonné Enamel. (Sutton Coll.)]

[Illustration: Fig. 138.--Japanese Vase. White, Red, Rose, and Green. Blossoms on Left; White Enamel Raised. Height, 6½ in. (Robert H. Pruyn Coll.)]

Jacquemart classes all the fine porcelain of Japan under the Rose family, to which would, therefore, belong the vase (Fig. 138) with white enamel decoration in relief. The subdivision of the family into vitreous and artistic porcelain, leads us to examine the grounds upon which it is made. The distinction between the two classes is based upon the styles of decoration. In both qualities the paste is very translucent, and the colors are pure and clear. The decoration of the vitreous is sparing, and of most careful execution, as though the artist were desirous of giving full effect to the natural beauty of the ware in its unadorned purity. Decorations of this kind gradually merge into more elaborate designs, in which flowers are strewn in careless grace over the opalescent paste, or animals are represented in gold and red. In the artistic porcelain the decoration partakes more of the Chinese intricacy and richness of color. Red, blue, green, yellow, and black mingle in scenes in which appear birds, figures, and flowers surrounded by deep and delicately shaded borders. It is inferred, from the gradually increasing elaboration of the designs, that the vitreous preceded the artistic, and that the latter, while tolerably distinct from the Chinese Rose, is the result of Chinese influence.

By reason of his faulty chronology, M. Jacquemart’s inference is open to question, although in the present case he appears to have reached a partial truth. The condition of both China and Japan, as it can be gleaned from history, detracts somewhat from the probability of the assumptions of the author mentioned. Europeans first landed in Japan in 1542--almost contemporaneously with the earliest manufacture of porcelain--and, in 1549, the first missionaries followed. In about thirty years (1581) one hundred and fifty thousand converts had been made, and, in 1583, an embassy was sent to the Pope by the daimios of Kiusiu. This is the Japanese embassy referred to by Mr. Marryat, as having taken place in 1584, on which occasion statuettes of the Virgin and Child, made by the Chinese for the Japanese Christians, were sent to Europe. But foreign intrigue and sectarianism soon culminated, and, in 1587, Hideyoshi banished all foreign missionaries. The work of proselytism was still carried on in private by the Jesuits, and, in 1596, a number of missionaries and converts were crucified at Nagasaki, in Hizen. The history of the next forty years is a narrative of desperate contention between the missionaries and converts on the one side, and the government on the other. The drama may be said to close with the massacre already referred to, which took place in 1637, when thousands of Christians were put to the sword, and thousands more were drowned in the harbor of Nagasaki.

Mr. Marryat says that the interference of the missionaries with the decoration of porcelain, by substituting scriptural subjects for the “ancient orthodox native patterns which had existed from time immemorial,” is supposed to have contributed to the massacre. In connection with this subject the same author quotes from D’Entrecolles, who states that a plate with a biblical subject was brought to him, and that he was told this porcelain was formerly carried to Japan, but that none had been made for sixteen or seventeen years; that apparently the Christians of Japan had made use of this manufacture during the persecution, but that discovery led to a stoppage of the traffic, and that, in consequence, these works had been discontinued at King-tehchin. Mr. Marryat then refers to the Chinese pieces sent with the Japanese embassy to Europe. Assuming the statements in these passages to be correct, it is well to bear in mind that they refer to three distinct fabrics. To arrange them chronologically, the last mentioned is the porcelain made by China for Japan, before its own porcelain industry was well established, or before it had, at least, been fully developed. This supports the statement that porcelain was not made in Japan until shortly before the middle of the sixteenth century. Otherwise, the question will at once occur, Why, if porcelain had been made in Japan since the thirteenth century, should China be supplying it with religious figures before any steps had been taken in Japan against the new religion? The first of these measures, as we have seen, was the decree of Hideyoshi, passed in 1587. The porcelain first referred to by Mr. Marryat comes second in point of time, and is the porcelain assumed to have been made in Japan, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, for the Christian converts. The second is, chronologically, the last, and is the porcelain made in China, about 1755, for the same people, secretly adhering to their religion one hundred and twenty years after the supposed extirpation of Christianity in Japan. Père d’Entrecolles was attached to the King-teh-chin mission, about 1770.

While the religious troubles above detailed were keeping Japan in a continual ferment, China was disturbed by the incursion of the Tartars and the usurpation of the Tai-thsing Dynasty.

In Japan we have, therefore, an undisturbed period of not more than fifty years (1540-1587) favorable to the development of that originality which, according to Jacquemart, preceded the imitations of Chinese work. Some singular evidence, which may be read, in one sense, to the same general effect, has been brought together by Mr. B. Phillips, in the _Art Journal_, in an article devoted to the Medicean porcelain in the Castellani collection. He says that two Japanese experts examined the specimen engraved (Fig. 223), and pronounced the decoration Japanese. The style they attributed to Shonsui, and said that it was in use toward the middle and close of the sixteenth century. A piece made by Shonsui bore out the statement, it having similar decorations, even to the flutings, which had been shaded after the same method. If the Medicean bowl be examined, simplicity will be found to be the most marked characteristic of the decoration; and it is clear that it must have been copied from some Japanese porcelain made not later than 1580.

It may, therefore, be accepted as an incontestable fact, that there was an essentially Japanese style of decoration, in the sixteenth century, applied to the blue Sometsuki, the porcelain destined for the home market. This leaves the question of precedence between the vitreous and artistic porcelains of the Rose family practically unaffected. The probabilities are all against M. Jacquemart’s, or any other unqualified, theory of chronological sequence. The natural course is to proceed from copying to originality. Japan had acquired the ceramic art from China. Was it not likely to occupy its attention first with copying the simpler styles of its experienced neighbor, while feeling after an equally simple originality, such as the Italians copied in their turn? From the first it may have had foreign taste to contend with, although very little is said of a Portuguese trade in porcelain. Then came religious troubles to delay the development of a national art, and, before they were over, the dynastic war in China, causing a suspension of production in that country, offered an inducement to supply a new market, and thus again delayed the national development. One historical fact remains to be added: In the “_Ambassades Mémorables_,” published at Amsterdam in 1680, we find allusion made to porcelain sent from the Dutch trading-post at Deshima, which did not sell well, _because it had not flowers enough upon it_. This clearly cannot refer to the “artistic” porcelain of Jacquemart, with its rich borders and crowded flowers. The only inference from all that can be said and legitimately assumed is, that the Hizen porcelain of the beginning of the seventeenth century is that which most nearly resembles the Chinese. To that period, therefore, may chiefly be assigned those rich pieces of Japanese Rose which have been confounded with the Chinese. When, afterward, the native taste for simplicity was striving to reassert itself, it was again obstructed by the demands of Dutch trade, and the requirements of such connoisseurs as Wagenaar, who objected to a paucity of flowers. It follows that many specimens of the vitreous class must have been subsequent to the artistic. From the beginning of the history of Japanese porcelain external influences were at war with native taste, and, in determining the sequence of styles, the only data open to consultation are the events ostensibly giving rise to them--the demand creating the supply--and the probable condition of the skill required to meet that demand.

The porcelain long called “Indian” belongs to the same period of Japanese art, and was taken home in ship-loads by the Dutch monopolists of the seventeenth century. The foreigners, not content with compelling, by the influence of trade, a bending of Japanese styles to their taste, supplied special designs. These were reproduced by the Japanese artists with the most exact and faithful precision.

A story is told by Captain French, of New York, that when in China some years ago, he saw fit to increase his wardrobe to the extent of a new coat. He had some difficulty with the native artist of the shears, and ultimately decided to send him an old coat as a pattern. In due time the new garment was finished, and so closely had the pattern been followed, that the sleeves were adorned with a couple of patches which had been applied to the old coat to prolong its natural term of service to the end of a protracted voyage. The Japanese artists were equally unreasoning in their adherence to designs supplied from Holland. They laid them upon the porcelain in all their crudity and roughness, and treated imperfections as the tailor did the patches--reproduced them with the most serious and unwavering fidelity to their model. Contact with foreign nations has never had any other than a bad effect upon Japanese art, excepting, of course, its early intercourse with China. The genius of the people has been diverted from its natural channel. Art has been in a manner subjugated by commerce. Hence came gloomy forebodings and threatened ruin. Whenever it had an opportunity of seeking free expression it changed its character. Instead, therefore, of classifying Japanese porcelain according to the families above mentioned, a better method might be to divide it into two great groups, the national and the commercial. A great part of the so-called artistic porcelain of the Rose family will belong to the latter class. It can only be distinguished from the Chinese by observing the points already noticed: the paste, the glaze, the greater purity of the enamel colors, the insignia, symbols, and flowers. Even these will fail at times, as the Chinese, led away by the improvements effected by the Japanese in imitating their styles, did not hesitate to appropriate those of Japan; while Japan, we are told, imports Chinese egg-shell for decoration.

Apart from these doubtful pieces, we can see, in both the old and modern porcelain of Japan, national characteristics struggling with many difficulties to reach artistic expression. We find technical skill handling the finest material, shaping it into graceful form, and decorating it with carefully compounded colors of the greatest beauty. The true history of Japanese art is the history of the art we have called national; all else is but the prostitution of individual genius to commerce. In the former we find simplicity and piety mingled with a humor often quaintly clothed in clay. There is abundant material for research, for study and close examination. The art of Japan has many peculiarities, and will give an observer ideas of artistic beauty and æsthetic taste which an American or European education would never suggest. In it we find, above all things, a deep love and admiration of nature. All this is contained in the lines of the Laureate of the Potter, which are charged with the very essence of Japanese art:

“All the bright flowers that fill the land, Ripple of waves on rock or sand, The snow on Fusiyama’s cone, The midnight heaven, so thickly sown With constellations of bright stars, The leaves that rustle, the reeds that make A whisper by each stream and lake, The saffron dawn, the sunset red, Are painted on these lovely jars. Again the skylark sings, again The stork, the heron, and the crane Float through the azure overhead, The counterfeit and counterpart Of nature reproduced in art.”