Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/618

 590 JAPAN [ART. Thus if a lacquer box in the form of a parallelogram is the object, the artists will not divide it in two equal parts by a perpendicular line, but by a diagonal, as offering a more pleasing line and division. If the box be round they will seek to lead the eye away from the naked regularity of the circle by a pattern distracting attention, as, for example, by a zigzag breaking the circular outline, and sup ported by other ornaments. A similar feeling is shown by them as colourists, and, though some times eccentric and daring in their contrasts, they very seldom pro duce discords in their chromatic scale. They have undoubtedly a fine sense of colour in common with other Eastern races, and a simi larly delicate and subtle feeling for harmonious blending of brilliant arid sober hues. As a rule they seem to prefer a quiet and refined style, using full but low-toned colours. They know the value of bright colours, however, and how best to utilize them cleverly, both supporting and contrasting them with their secondaries and CJinple- mentaries, as Mr Leighton remarks. Having thus taken a very rapid glance at some of the leading features of Japanese decorative art as a whole, and traced the prin ciples that underlie and in great degree determine the processes by which the workman seeks to realize his ideal while taking nature s methods for his guide, we must now pass in review the several art-industries in which they have most excelled. The following account of these, though by no means supplying an ex haustive list, may be considered to include the principal industries. Such, however, is Jho delicacy of touch and skill in manipulation exhibited by Jap nese workmen of all kinds that, apart from the general principles applied in all decorative processes, the simplest toy box of wood or papier- nuiche is apt to be made a work of art, and as a piece of constructive workmanship is not easily rivalled, or in danger of being mistaken for the work of any other than Japanese hands. Pottery Pottery and Porcelain. There has been much discussion as to and the source whence the Japanese derived their skill in pottery and porce- porcelain. The general conclusion that, at a remote era, some lain. Corean priests introduced the manufactory of porcelain from China, the country most advanced in civilization in the eastern half of Asia, may be accepted as sufficiently attested. There is evidence that both Chinese and Japanese have since that time borrowed largely from each other, while inventing new forms and processes by their own ingenuity, taste, and skill. Thus differences in treatment and working traditions would become the inheritance of each, giving rise to the very characteristic distinction which may bo observed in the present day between Chinese and Japanese por celain and pottery of all kinds, notwithstanding a certain generic likeness. The discovery of the art of making hard porcelain, the pate dure of the French in contradistinction to the pate tcndre, cost European workmen much time and labour, after the first importa tions of Chinese and Japanese porcelain excited the admiration and envy of Europe ; and the secret was never revealed by either Chinese or Japanese to any European. There are to this day many secrets of these crafts as jealously guarded as ever. The mystery of crackled china, of lace-work translucent porcelain covered with glaze, and of the marvellous egg shell cups, and the process whereby these are enamelled and covered by a fine woven case of bamboo, as well as the composition and sources of their colours, are still so many secrets to the European manufacturers, although something has been divined or discovered quite lately as to crackle and lace-work porcelain. The Japanese of late have been much given to lacquering their porcelain, but very often this is not burnt in, and washes off nor even in the beginning has it much beauty to recommend it. Their enamel painting on this porcelain is in many cases very delicate and beautiful both in design and colour, but perhaps not as a rule equal to the fine specimens of China of the Ming dynasty, or even of the reign of Kanghi, who was a great patron of the arts early in the 18th century. Of the art-pottery and stoneware of Satsuma and Hizen, and indeed of many other provinces in Japan,. it may be said that nothing better in the material has ever been produced. The Japanese have no pretension to rank with the classic designs on the Etruscan and Greek vases, because they have never learned to draw the human figure correctly. But in flowers, birds, fishes, and insects the Greeks themselves never approached the perfection of Japanese art, where such objects give a beauty and value often to the very commonest piece of pottery, made with the finger and thumb for the chief tools, and retaining the impress of the skin on the surface. The great variety of pottery and ceramic ware produced in Japan may most conveniently be arranged under the three heads adopted by Mr Franks in his useful Art Handbook for the Collection in the South Kensington Museum : (1) common pottery and stone ware ; (2) a cream-coloured faience, with a glaze often crackled and delicately painted in colours ; (3) hard porcelain. The best account perhaps of the very varied substances used by the Japanese in making these wares and forming their porcelain clay is to be found in the report published under the authority of the Japanese commission, Lc Japan a V Exposition Unirersclle de 1878. Porcelain painted or enamelled with flowers and other designs is largely produced in the province of Hizen in the island of Kiushiu, of which Nagasaki, where there are large manufactories, is a port; but it is also manufactured in a great number of other provinces and districts. The decoration, whether iu enamel colours or metals, is laid on after the final burning of the clay or pdte, and above the glaze. But the artists often live apart from the factories and independent of them, working at their own homes, and owning, separately or jointly according to circumstances, small ovens, where at a comparatively low temperature they can fix their easily fused enamels. Thus much cf the finer egg-shell porcelain used to be sent in the white state to Tokio, Hizen, and other places, there to be decorated by artists of local celebrity. But from the Hizen factories also comes a great quantity of low-class porcelain lor ship ment at Nagasaki, to suit the demand of the European markets. That for the most part is vulgar in taste, made on European models for domestic use, and consists of toilet sets, tea services, jars, trays, &c., coarsely even if elaborately painted, akin to the ware so long received from Canton under similar conditions of deterioration. The colours are bad, with no refined tones. Light greens, red, and blue, all poor in quality, are most common, and have a vulgar and disagreeable effect. This is the result of a demand for cheap articles by tradesmen who have no taste themselves. But Arita, Kioto, Kaga, Satsuma, and Owari are all centres whence the most char acteristic and admired ceramic wares of Japan are obtained. Several varieties of enamelled and painted faience are produced in all, and from Satsuma and Owari, especially the former, the faience is very rich. The delicate tints of the paste, and the better ground which the pate tendre furnishes for the reception of enamel colours compared with the pate dure of the polished porcelain, give a special beauty to all this ware, while the soft creamy-looking crackled glaze adds an additional charm. There is a kind of terra cotta and pottery or earthenware industry in Japan of which the produce has been largely exported of late years in the form of jars and censers or flower-pots. The objects selected for the decorative part are usually in very high relief and roughly modelled, consisting of flowers, foliage, or animals, but their artistic merit is not great, though as specimens of technical skill and mastery of all the difficulties offered by subject and material they are very remarkable. Lacquer IVarc. China has given its name to all porcelain in the L Western world, as the country whence it was first imported. So w has Japan given its name to all lacquer ware, first introduced to the knowledge and admiration of Europe in the 17th century after the discovery of that country. The beauty and excellence of Japanese lacquer ware have never been matched in Europe. Not even in China, where the varnish tree is also indigenous, and the industry may date quite as far back, has equality been ever established. Japan reigns supreme, now as at first, in this, the most beautiful and perfect product of all her skilled labour and artistic power. The unmatched and apparently unmatchable beauty of Japanese lacquer may be due to many causes. The varnish tree is of several kinds, and the Urushi tree growing in Japan (the fruit of which yields the vegetable wax), from which is derived the lacquer varnish, supplies, it is said, a finer gum than any other of the same species. It is extracted from the tree at particular seasons only, &amp;gt;y incisions in the bark, and from first to last is subjected to many manipulations and refining processes, conducted with a patient attention and a deli cacy such as could with difficulty be secured in any other country, perhaps not in Europe at any cost. It admits in these processes of various admixtures of colouring matter, and from the first gather ing to the last use of it in highly finished work, increasing care as to the dryness or moisture of the atmosphere, the exclusion of every particle of dust, and other conditions is essential. The articles to be lacquered, whether cabinets or boxes of infinite variety in size and form, are generally made of light fine-grained pine wood, very care fully seasoned, and smoothed so that not the slightest inequality of surface or roughness of edge remains. Layer after layer of the lacquer is laid on at stated intervals of days or weeks, and after each step the same smoothing process is repeated, generally with a lump of fine charcoal and the fingers, as the finest and most perfect of polishing instruments. These layers vary in number, according to the intended effect and perfection of the article, and also in rela tion to the design. Very frequently this is either in basso or alto rilievo, in which ivory and agates, coral, or precious stones are inserted, as well as gold and silver in rich profusion. Some of the older and finer pieces of lacquer, which even in the early days of treaty relations in 1859 were rarely in the market, and now are exceedingly scarce in Japan itself, represent the labour of months and even years of the most skilled workmen, who must be artists as well as masters of the manual craft. On these articles they lavish all their art, and enrich them by every kind of decoration. Fret patterns are in constant use in all Japanese art, sometimes in F the form of borders, and more frequently in diapers, which they use I&quot; with excellent effect on surfaces in filling up and varying the spaces, ai in combination with floral and other designs. Their love of variety di leads them to adopt several different diapers in covering any sur-