Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/171

 crackle produces a play of light that greatly enhances its charms. It is for this surface that the collector should look. If he seeks wealth of decoration only, he can suit himself best among the imposing and often beautiful manufactures of the present day. In older pieces it will always be found that the artist, recognising the beauty of the ground upon which he worked, took care that it should not be unnecessarily hidden. In modern specimens, on the contrary, the decoration too frequently serves to conceal the imperfections of the surface to which it is applied; and the surface, where it is allowed to appear, is usually "treated" to impart stains which do duty for the mellow tint of former times. Some critics claim that nothing substantial has been lost by abandoning the chaste canons of early years, since the more elaborate style now in vogue affords the artist wider scope. But even if the advantages of increased glitter and extended range of subject be conceded to the modern school, the merit of superior technique remains to the old. Small pieces of early-period Satsuma, such as cups, incense-holders, tea-jars, etc., etc., often exhibit embellishment which, while in richness of effect it will bear comparison with the most ornate of the later designs, shows greater accuracy of execution and much more skilled use of enamels. The connoisseur will generally find, in examining a vase painted for the foreign market, that however much labour has been bestowed on the body of the piece, the less prominent portions are somewhere defective, and that whereas lustreless pigments predominate on modern examples, the decoration of the old consisted chiefly of pure, jewel-like enamels. The original style was certainly more calculated to encourage mechanical