Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/276

 CHINA

though erroneously attributed to Cochin China. Their pate is hard white stone-ware, its outer surface always covered with enamels of rich colour, while to the inner is applied a partial coat of thin paint-like grey glaze. In nine cases out of every ten these specimens take the form of small boxes used in Japan to hold in- cense. Sometimes they are round, with the top rudely moulded into the shape of an ox or a stag; sometimes they are made in the semblance of a bird, a badger, or a blossom. The enamels are green, yel- low, purple, and mahogany red. The purple varies from the colour of ripe grapes to that of light muddy claret dusted with dark speckles. The green and yel- low are rich and lustrous, and the mahogany red has a peculiar wax-like appearance, not seen in any other enamel. Scroll patterns or other designs in relief en- ter almost invariably into the decoration, the techni- cal finish of which is usually more or less rude. In a manuscript work, entitled Kogo-zuye (illustrations of incense boxes), compiled by a well-known Japa- nese virtuoso forty years ago, ten celebrated specimens of this faience are depicted. The majority of them are grotesque in conception. One is in the shape of an archaic badger with yellow limbs, purple face and breast, and green body. In another the artist has modelled a purple stag lying on green scrolls and diapers, and in another a claret-coloured carp plunges among yellow waves. ‘The redeeming features of such pieces is the richness and lustre of their coloured enamels, indicating high technical ability. They are referred by Japanese connoisseurs to the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, and there is no reason to doubt the correctness of the estimate; for though, as has been said, the Japanese are mistaken 248