Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/421

 It is a reservation applying equally to the work done in Tōkyō, Kyōtō, Yokohama, and Kōbe. The artists use chiefly pigments, seldom venturing to employ vitrifiable enamels. That the results achieved with these different materials are not comparable, is a fact which every connoisseur must admit. The glossy surface of porcelain glaze is ill fitted for rendering artistic effects with ordinary colours. The proper field for the application of these is the biscuit, in which position the covering glaze serves at once to soften and to preserve the pigment. It can scarcely be doubted that the true instincts of the keramist will ultimately counsel him to confine his decoration over the glaze to vitrifiable enamels, with which the Chinese and Japanese potters of former times obtained such brilliant results. But to employ enamels successfully is an achievement demanding special training and materials not easy to procure or to prepare. The Tōkyō decorators are not likely, therefore, to change their present methods immediately. Meanwhile a wholesome impetus has been given to keramic decoration by the efforts of a new school, which owes its origin to the late Dr. G. Wagener, an eminent German expert formerly in the service of the Japanese Government. Dr. Wagener conceived the idea of developing the art of decoration under the glaze, as applied to faience. Faience thus decorated has always been exceptional in Japan. Rare specimens were produced in Satsuma and Kyōtō, the colour employed being chiefly blue, though brown and black were used in very exceptional instances. The difficulty of producing clear, rich tints was nearly prohibitive, and though success, when achieved, seemed to justify the effort, this class of ware never received