Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/419

 these defects and entered a period of considerable excellence. As for the nature of the designs, it may fairly be said that figure-subjects constitute their chief feature. A majority of the artists are content to copy old pictures of Buddha's Sixteen Disciples, the seven Gods of Happiness, and other similar assemblages of mythical or historical personages, not only because such work offers large opportunity for the use of striking colours and the production of meretricious effects, dear to the eye of the average Western householder and globe-trotter, but also because a complicated design, as compared with a simple one, has the advantage of hiding the technical imperfections of the ware. Of late there have happily appeared some decorators who prefer to choose their subjects from the natural field in which their great predecessors of former times excelled, and there is reason to hope that this more congenial and pleasing style will supplant its modern usurper. The best known factory in Tōkyō for decorative purposes is the Hyōchi-en. It was established in the Fukagawa suburb in 1876, with the immediate object of preparing specimens for the first Tōkyō Exhibition held at that time. Its founders obtained a measure of official aid, and were able to secure the services of some good artists, among whom may be mentioned Obanawa and Shimauchi. The porcelains of Owari and Arita naturally received most attention at the hands of the Hyochi-en decorators, but there was scarcely one of the principal wares of Japan upon which they did not try their skill, and if a piece of monochromatic Minton or Sèvres came in their way, they undertook to improve it by the addition of designs copied from old masters or suggested by modern taste. To all such pieces the cachet