Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/325

 Shippō-gaisha. (The term Shippō literally signifies "the seven precious things." In Japan it is used also to designate cloisonné, or champlevé, enamel.)

Not by any means on account of its merits, but solely for the information of inexperienced collectors, reference must be made to a faience of which large quantities have been manufactured during the last few years in Owari. It is a counterfeit Satsuma ware, and the perpetrators of the fraud have not hesitated to import materials from Tsuboya itself to make the deception more complete. Medicated and begrimed specimens of this Bishiui-yaki are still successfully palmed off on unsuspecting foreigners to an incredible extent, and will probably continue to find purchasers so long as men are sanguine enough to fancy that the long-since depleted curio market still contains treasures accessible to themselves alone, and so long as the disfigurements of age and the blemishes of wear find people who regard them as beauties. Vases made in Owari with clay from Kiushiu may, of course, be quite as good as anything produced in Satsuma itself, but in point of fact they are not. Besides, Owari materials are generally used in part, at any rate. No difficulty ought, then, to be experienced in distinguishing a specimen, for not only is the Owari clay darker and denser than that of Satsuma, but the ware and the glaze are both thicker, while the latter has a peculiarly dull, viscid appearance not easily mistaken. The crackle, too, is more strongly marked, and, though fine, is often irregular, being for the most part nearly imperceptible on the inner and under surfaces of the piece. Finally, the decoration is so coarse that it does not assort ill with patches of grime and stains of lye added to simulate antiquity.