Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/100

 possible avoided. On the surface of his blacks, soufflé blues and reds, the Chinaman often preferred to superpose a partially fixed tracery of gold, which could not hope to escape speedy obliteration by use, rather than to subject the vase to new perils by re-stoving. And as in Japan, so also in the Middle Kingdom, when enamel decoration is added to bleu sous couverte, the tone of the latter can seldom compare in purity and brilliancy with the blue of pieces which have not passed twice through the furnace.

It is almost certain that the "flower" spoken of in the Ambassades Mémorables as Wagenaar's invention, may be interpreted in the sense of floral decoration. Probably the Dutch agent suggested redistributions or modifications of Japanese designs, but it may be doubted whether he originated anything worthy of preservation. Among the really good specimens of "Old Japan" preserved in the great collections of Europe, there are few examples of styles which may not be found upon Japanese lacquers or brocades dating from a period long antecedent to the establishment of the factory in Deshima. By the Japanese themselves it is universally believed that the most favourite design of the Arita potters, during the first fifty or sixty years of the "Ornate Period" (1655–1710), was the Hana-kago-de, or Flower-basket Pattern. This, as the term suggests, is a basket or jar supporting a profusion of tastefully grouped flowers, generally peonies, but sometimes alaoalso [sic] chrysanthemums, and sometimes a mixture of both. The Hana-kago-de was capable of almost infinite modification, and could be so arranged as to occupy a space of almost any shape. On the bottoms of plates and bowls, in the panels of vases, and medallions, and, in