Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/155

 ence of this land of artists merited even more attention than its porcelains.

In the field thus newly opened to Western collectors, the first place has by common consent been assigned to the faience of Satsuma. In decorative excellence other wares of Japan equal and even excel this beautiful faience, but in combined softness and richness it has no peer. So fully have its merits been recognised that no American or European collection of Oriental objects of virtu is deemed complete unless it contains a specimen of Satsuma-yaki. It must, however, be added that few Western collections contain a really representative specimen. That faience of a brilliantly decorative, and at the same time artistic, nature has been exported in considerable quantities to Europe and America during the past thirty years, under the name of Satsuma-yaki, is unquestionable. Unquestionable, also, is the fact that from 1880 Japanese decorators, inspired by the demands of the American market, succeeded in imitating "Old Satsuma" with much fidelity. But in one essential particular this modern ware differs from the beautiful faience so rare and so highly prized in Japan. If it be admitted that first-class specimens of ancient Chinese céladon bear some comparison with the jade which they were designed to imitate, there will be no risk of hyperbole in asserting that the Satsuma ware of bygone times can scarcely, at first sight, be distinguished from ivory. In vain does one search among modern pieces for the exquisitely smooth surface, rich, mellow tone, and almost imperceptible crackle of the old faience. What one generally finds is crude, chalky pâte, covered with glaze that is fissured rather than crackled. Or if the crackle is close and the pâte tol-