Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/441



PEAKING broadly, the distinguished products of Japanese keramic art in pre-Meiji days may be said to have been the porcelains of Hizen and Kutani and the faiences of Satsuma and Kyōtō. Many other wares have attracted attention, but though not without merits and even beauties, they are comparatively insignificant. In the term "Hizen porcelains" are included not merely the richly decorated Imari ware—the "Old Japan" of Western collectors—but also the finely modelled and delicately coloured masterpieces of Hirado, and the jewelled specimens of Nabeshima which undoubtedly stand at the head of all Japanese porcelains ornamented with vitrifiable enamels over the glaze. Many examples of these varieties deserve the enthusiastic admiration they have received, yet they unquestionably belong to a lower rank of keramic achievements than the choice productions of Chinese kilns. The potters of the Middle Kingdom, from the early eras of the Ming dynasty down to the latest years of the eighteenth century, stood absolutely without rivals—haud æqui aut secundi—as makers of porcelain. Their technical ability was incomparable,—though in grace of decorative conception they yielded the palm to the Japanese,