Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/240

 222 THE BUILDING NEWS. love for depicting them. Here again we detect their painstaking apd enthusiastic course of study by the care and accuracy with which every action and favourite position of their bird is rendered. It is principally in their porcelain, lacquer, illustrated books, and original drawings, that we find the best speeimens of their skill in this department, but rare examples are to be met with in their metal-work. Let the material, however, be what it may, where- ever there is a bird there is food for our study and cause for our admiration. A law existed in Japan, and no doubt does now, that no fire-arms should be used within a radius of thirty miles from the Imperial Palace, and this encouraged, to a great extent, the sport of falconry. and consequently the taste for depicting scenes from it. The screens which the Japanese useso commonly in their dwell- ings as temporary partitions, are very frequently painted with such sporting scenes, and many books are published entirely devoted to falconry. Both in these paintings and in illustrated books we find countless evidences of their skill in bird-drawing, and every conceivable position of the falcon and its quarry delineated. The birds most frequently re- presented by the Japanese artists are storks, tame and wild ducks, wild geese, pheasants, ravens, hawks, faleons, and cocks and hens. The stork is held in a sort of semi-veneration by the Japanese, and adopted by them as the emblem of longevity. For these reasons it isone of their most favourite subjects, and is used as an ornament throughout the entire range of their arts. It is impossible to imagine any position which storks can assume that is not depicted by the Japanese artists, and it is likewise impossible to realise anything more artistic than their manner of treating them. There are two birds, one a variety of the pheasant, and the other a species of tame duck, called Kinmodsut, which, from their extreme beauty, form favourite studies for Japanese artists. These, as well as the other birds mentioned, are frequently introduced, and invariably well-drawn. The Japanese appear to have only one chimerical bird, which they believe dwells in the high regions of the air, and descends to bless the earth with its presence only on the birth of a great emperor or some such extraordinary occa- sion. The name of this bird is Foo, and it is repre- sented in art like a bird of Paradise, with excessively rich plumage. This bird is not so generally intro- duced in art as the natural birds, and seemed to be always in some way connected with royalty, and alludes to some remarkable event when it, is intro- duced. Representations of this bird occur on several pieces of enamel in the possession of Mr. James Lord Bowes, of Liverpool, and are in almost every case associated with insignia of royalty, the most usual being that of .Taikosama, the first secular monarch of Japan, A.p. 1585-91. Kempfer remarks:—‘ Considering the largeness and extent of the Japanese empire, it is but sparingly supplied with four-footed beasts, wild or tame. The former find but few desert places where they could inerease and multiply and follow their usual shy way of life. The latter are bred up only for carriage and agri- culture. Pythagoras’s doctrine of the transmigration of the soul being received almost universally, the natives eat no flesh meat, and living, as they do, chiefly upon vegetables, they know how to improve to ground to much better advantage than by turn- ing it into meadows and pastures for breeding of cattle.” Such being the case, we cannot be sur- prised that natural animals are comparatively seldom depicted in their art works, The horse is certainly often met with, sometimes alone, but more frequently with its rider, and always treated skilfully. The elephant is represented in the Buddhist temples, no doubt in allusion to India, the birthplace of that faith,and when it is used in other works of art it isno doubt with some kindred idea. The author did not remember ever having met with a single representation of a natural lion in Japanese art, but had seen a few tigers, although indifferently well done. The Japanese frequently represent a chimerical animal somewhat resembling a lion, commonly called by us the kylin; but what their ideas are in connection with this animal he was unable to clearly ascertain. The most im- portant of the fabulous animals of Japan, and the one most frequently represented in art, is the dragon. Kempfer says:—‘ The chronicles and histories of their gods and heroes are full of fabulous stories of this animal. They believe that it dwells at the bottom of the sea as its proper element. They represent it in their books as a huge, long, four- footed snake, scaly all over the body, like a eroco- dile, with sharp prickles along the back, but the head is, beyond the rest, monstrous and terrible. Some of the Japanese Emperor's cloth, his arms, Scimitars, knives, and the like, as also the furniture and hangings of the Imperial Palace, are adorned with figures of this dragon, holding a round jewel or pearl in the right fore-claw. The Japanese dragon hath but three claws to each foot, whereby it is distinguished from the Chinese Imperial dragon, which is represented with five.” Foxes, monkeys, bears, cats, rats, rabbits, and frogs, are amongst the animals most commonly met with in works of Japanese art, and although generally cleverly rendered, deserve no special remark. A great variety of fishes are favourites with Japanese artists, and are invariably well drawn. Tish is one of the staple articles of food in Japan, and the fisherman’s trade is held in considerable esteem by the people. Both these facts have operated largely in making representations of fish, and indeed all marine productions, very popular objects of art. The different ways in which fish are introduced by the Japanese artists are positively countless, but there are four ways which are more common than others—viz., as dead and lying singly, or in twos or threes, across each other; as alive and swimming amidst curling waves; as in the act of being caught by theexpert fisherman by rod or net; and as in the act of ascending a waterfall. The sea tortoise or turtle in its natural form is occasionally depicted, but in art we more frequently meet with a fanciful modification of it. This consists of a tortoise, with along and broad tail of hair issuing from the hinder half ofits body. In this form it is called Mooke or Minogame, and is looked upon with considerable veneration as the emblem of long life and happiness. It is introduced in the ornamentation of screens and walls of the temples and palaces of the Japanese, and represented by their artists in every branch of their work. Cuttle-fish and shellfish of all sorts are adopted by the Japanese, and executed with great skill in metal work, ivory carving, lacquer work, and painting. Insects are frequently represented, but generally in connection with other and more important objects. Fruit and leaves, for instance, are sometimes shown partially eaten by insects, and we generally find a specimen of the depredators, in the actofeating, shownalong withthem. Itis alsocommon to find insects and birds together; and a spider with its web stretched between the branches of ashrub is also a favourite ornament; and should we find a fallen leaf supported by the web, we need not ask why the artist put it there—it is only a way he has of telling us what a strong thing a spider’s web is. The chief of all the inanimate objects utilised for art purposes by the Japanese is the beautiful mountain, Fusiyama. This mountain is one of the most common illustrations in books, on porcelain, and on lacquer articles. It is nearly always represented as it appears from the suburbs of Yeddo, with its sharply-defined sloping sides and crown of snow. Fusiyama is an extinct voleano; the latest eruption on record was in 1767. It is considered sacred by the natives, and religious pilgrimages are made to it. Rocks, with waterfalls, or waves of the sea break- ing over them, are often represeuted by the Japa- nese in the charming little pictures they paint on their porcelain and lacquer work. And driving rain, softly-falling snow, or a boisterous gale appear to give great seope for the graphic delineation of these cunning craftsmen. Their way of representing a mist at sea is very amusing, positively nothing being shown but a few straight and curved lines, shaping upper portions of masts and sails. Imagination supplies the mist which obscures all the rest of the vessel, Sunset and moonlight are also very favourite representations, and are always cleverly rendered. Clouds are almost invariably present in landscapes, or, indeed, almost every open-air scene, but are never well drawn. The attempt to flatten them to meet the requirements of decorative art is almost a universal failure. There are countless other objects which are pressed into the service of the decorative artists of Japan, many of which will be alluded to in the subsequent portion of this paper. Enamels.—Of all the arts of the Japanese, the one which is the most interesting is that of enamel- ling. In this they excel beyond any other nations with whose works we are acquainted. It is only within the last few years that examples of Japanese enamelling have reached this country, and Mr. Audsley believes that it was only very recently that they have been allowed to be exported from Japan. Neither the large collection of Japanese curiosities preserved at the Hague, nor Siebold’s museum at Leyden, contain a single specimen of this art; and another strange fact is that with one slight excep- tion the author has been unable to find an allusion to the practice of the art in any work written by travellers in Japan. The exception alluded to in Sir Rutherford Aleock’s works. The author's idea is that no enamels are now made, and that the art has always been dedicated to the occurs Marca 15, 1872. palaces of the Mikado and the princes of the land. The recent alterations in connection with the Govern- ment of Japan, and the breaking up of a large pro- portion of the Daimios’ establishments, consequent upon the decrease of their power and revenues, may account for the sudden exportation of so many valuable works of art from that country. Be this as it may, we have become the lucky possessors of works of great beauty and value, as well as of last- ing interest to all true art lovers. The process which appears to have been universally adopted is that known as the cloisonné or filigree. Enamel is a name given to certain vitreous substances, transparent or opaque, coloured by metallic oxides. When transparent, enamel resembles coloured glass, so composed that it will fuse at a comparatively low temperature. The transparent enamel is composed of silica, oxide of lead, lime, and soda fused together ; and the opaque of similar materials, with the addition of oxide of tin or bone earth. Both kinds of paste are coloured by the addition of other oxides; for instance, purple enamel is procured by gold, yellow by silver, blue by cobalt, green by copper, violet by manganese, and other colours by combinations of these. In the manufacture of cloisonné enamels the opaque pastes only are used. The method of making a plaque of cloisonné is as follows: Athin plate of copper or other metal capable of withstanding a great heat is taken, and the design required is sketched upon it with a sharp tool. Thin wire—which has been rolled flat into a ribbon of, say, one-sixteenth of an inch wide, and about the thickness of an ordinary calling card—is then cut into lengths, and bent and fashioned by pliers and such like tools into the outlined forms on the plate; each portion, when fashioned, being soldered in its place on the plate until the whole is complete. Coloured enamels are then taken of the required tints, and reduced to powder by being heated, thrown into water, and ground in a mortar. These powders are mixed as required with some volatile oil, and, in a pasty state, are put into the spaces between the ribbons on the plate. All the cells in this manner having been carefully filled up with their appropriate tints, the plate is placed in a mufile, and subjected to a strong heat. The volatile oils are quickly dis- pelled, and the pastes gradually liquefy, sinking into the cells. The process of firing being attentively watched, the plate is withdrawn when the lique- faction is considered to be complete. When the plate has cooled, the cells are again filled up with the enamel colours, and the firing repeated. Should the enamels be found to sink to any considerable extent, the colours are applied a third, or even a fourth time, and finally fired and allowed to cool slowly in the muffle. The annealing being completed in this way, the plate is withdrawn, and the enamelled side ground down to an even surface, and finally polished, until (as Theophilus has quaintly put it), if ‘tone half of it were wet, and one half were dry, no one could distinguish which was the wet or which the dry part.” The plaque now presents a design in colours, with its outlines in polished metal. It must be obvious to any one who knows anything about mechanical processes, and especially those in which the action of fire forms an important part, that the one described is of the greatest difficulty, and thatex- treme care, attention, and skill are required in every detail of the work; so much so, that the art has been abandoned in Europe for about six centuries, and only successfully revived within the last few years by M. Christofle, of Paris, whose enterprise was awakened by the examination of Japanese enamels which were imported into France. Great credit is due to this gentleman, whose works, although not to be compared to the Japanese, are of very great merit, but, unfortunately for the revival of the art, of very great expense. He has now quite abandoned the manufacture, so we shall have to look to Japan and China alone for specimens of this wonderful art. A careful examination of the Japanese enamels almost bewilders the mind and confuses the eye; on the one hand by the almost superhuman skill displayed in their manipulation, and on the other by the marvel- lous diversity, intricacy, and beauty of their designs. The ancient examples of the art of cloisonné which have come down to our time from the middle ages are almost entirely in the form of small plaques, which were used for the ornamentation of ecclesias- tical vessels, book-covers, altar frontals, and the like. In the interesting work by the monk Theophilus, on the “Arts of the Middle Ages,” we find an elaborate description of the manner of constructing small plaques of this enamel for the enrichment of church vessels; but no hint is given as to its adoption for the complete surfaces of vessels themselves. Theo- philus appears only to have been acquainted with pieces which could be held between the thumb and finger, and polished like the natural gems with which production of articles of use and ornament for the | they were usually associated on the golden vessels. a