Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/356

 beings and animals, as well as birds, fishes, and so forth, were modelled with a degree of plastic ability that can scarcely be spoken of in too high terms. Representative specimens are truly admirable, every line true, every contour faithful: they will bear comparison with similar works produced in any country at any age. There is nothing to show exactly at what time or under what circumstances this most remarkable plastic skill was developed, but its first exercise does not appear to date farther back than the second half of the seventeenth century, and the best examples were probably produced at a still later epoch. Cocks in the attitude of challenging or crowing, sparrows, quails, mythical animals, the Shichi-fuku-jin, the Shishi, and so forth, were favourite subjects for the modeller; he generally managed to represent them instinct with life and of unerringly correct form. In rare cases specimens of this character were intended to serve as alcove ornaments (oki-mono), but the great majority of them were censers. It is said that the bluish grey, or slate colour, of the pâte was obtained in the furnace by skilful management of temperature. Whether such was the fact, or whether the colour resulted from using special materials, must remain for the present undecided, since the Ao-Bizen ware is no longer produced. The records of the factories say that, for choice ware, earth found in the Imbe district was mixed, after careful preparation, with fine particles of mud from a pond in Hatada-mura, and that the latter, with a proportion of lixiviated ash of the Goma (Sesamum orientalis), served for glazing material. The baking, even of these smaller articles, occupied thirteen days, and much depended on proper management of temperature. It is not to be understood that