Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/140

 saki from the province of Szechuen, in China. Such pieces were marked "Made at Kame-yama with clay from Soshu in China."

It is on the enamelled porcelains of Imari and Nabeshima that Japan's keramic reputation rests with the majority of Western collectors. These wares alone were exported in the days when the foreign trade of the country was in the hands of the Dutch. Much of the Imari porcelain owed its manufacture entirely to European demand, and its decorative motives were modified to suit European taste. Its most characteristic features being brilliancy and decorative effect, large, imposing pieces were chiefly sought after, and it is for this reason that nearly all the specimens preserved in European collections under the name of "Old Japan," are either jars with covers, tall vases with spreading necks—the so-called "trumpet-shaped vases"—beakers, gourd-shaped vases, or plaques. Probably the finest examples are to be seen in the Dresden collection and the Palace in Madrid. Solidity, a useful quality for purposes of export, and profuse ornamentation accomplished at a minimum of cost, being prescribed by the Dutch merchants, this "Old Japan" did not convey a just idea of either the Japanese keramist's technical skill or the Japanese connoisseur's natural taste. M. du Sartel, in his work "La Porcelaine de Chine," judging by the majority of examples preserved in great collections, says that its shapes were generally heavy and inelegant; that its paste was thick, with little transparency and of doubtful whiteness; that its glaze was greyish, or slightly tinged with greenish blue; that the decoration consisted, for the most part, of designs in impure, dark blue sous