Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/189

 course, be stoved once more. The result of such treatment is that not only does the piece lose any mellowness due to age, but the regularity of its crackle is impaired, and much, if not the whole, of the ivory-like surface that constitutes the chief beauty of old Satsuma, disappears. The final process is to steep the specimen in tea or acid. It emerges stained, and covered in parts, sometimes entirely, with a network of black or dark brown crackle. A very little experience should enable amateurs to distinguish between the dingy look of this medicated ware and the soft mellow glow of the genuine Satsuma-yaki. Such experience, however, seems slow to come, for to this day numerous specimens of false Satsuma find ready purchasers in America and France.

In the second class of dealer's "treasures" pâte and decoration are both new. Much of this ware has genuine merits of its own, and is honestly sold on its merits. Ninety-nine pieces out of every hundred are decorated in Tōkyō or Kobe. The designs are elaborate. Figures are among the most favourite subjects: their flesh and drapery offer an easy field for employing the crude pigments of the modern decorator. There is usually a profusion of diapers, one object being to conceal, rather than to expose, the surface of the faience. Sometimes, especially in the case of pieces decorated in Kobe, the faience is not allowed to appear at all, being entirely covered with gold pigments and a little enamel. The best of these specimens are distinguished by miniature painting wonderfully fine and elaborate. When it is desired to simulate age, medication, roughness of decoration, and trituration with dirt are resorted to. Those who