CHAPTER XI.

THE PORCELAIN OF JAPAN.

Corean Porcelain.--Katosiro-ouye-mon.--The Province of Idsoumi.--Styles prevailing in Japan.--Marks.--Japanese Blue.--Indian Porcelain.--Dutch East India Company.--Egg-shell and Crackle.--Mandarin China.--Kaga Ware.--Satsuma Ware.--Japanese Art.--The Philadelphia Exhibition.

Of porcelains from the island of Corea but little is known, and all our statements are made with doubt. It is believed by some that from Corea came the first porcelain-makers into Japan. In New York, Mr. Hoe and Mr. Avery have each pieces which are peculiar, being bolder in decoration and cruder in color than the Chinese or Japanese, but which may have been made in Japan.

So, too, with Persian porcelain: there is about it much vagueness and uncertainty. There seems to be testimony to prove that porcelain was made in that country.

In India, too, it has been now and then asserted that porcelain was made. But, as the Chinese and Japanese had much trade with those nations, and as they certainly did work from designs sent from other countries, it is most reasonable to believe that what some persons have supposed was Indian or Persian was really Chinese porcelain.

Japanese porcelain is a more difficult subject for study than the Chinese, owing to this circumstance: About the year 1211 or 1212, a Japanese artist crossed over to China, to study the processes by means of which the Chinese had reached such surprising excellence. His name, according to Dr. Hoffman, was Katosiro-ouye-mon. Through him the art received in Japan a new impulse, new knowledge, new methods. It may be of service to us to know that the wonderful perfection achieved by the Japanese in this art was due not only to the skill of her artists, but also, and more, to the fact that the government gave direct, persistent, and liberal pecuniary aid to the industry.

Genius will, of course, work its miracles; but, if we in the United States are to reach excellence in art-work, it will be, must be, only fitful and short-lived, if it is to depend upon individual effort or chance patronage: only by means of the persistent and intelligent fostering of a state, whose life is perennial, can the greatest things be accomplished. There are fanatics who hold to free trade in poetry, invention, art, patent-right, copyright. No doubt they mean well, but the nation may beware of them.

The art-museums now being established cannot fail to do good; but they will fall lamentably short of their aims if they are not directly and powerfully aided by the state. To illustrate this, let me refer to the fine collections known as the Kensington Museum and the British Museum, in England. Both are the creations of the state, and both have been generously treated. It would have taken a hundred or a thousand years of individual contributions to accomplish what the Kensington Museum has done in twenty.

Already, it is a great and noble school--teaching by example--of _art applied to the uses of life_; and already it has placed some of the manufacturers of England in the first place of the world.

I wish, then, to repeat that the work which Katosiro did would not have been done--could not have been done--by his own individual effort.

He not only added vastly to the satisfaction and delight and riches of his own people, but he has given us cause to bless the Government of Japan for the satisfaction and delight we, too, are enabled to draw from his work.

Pennsylvania is taking the lead here. With a keen perception and a profound wisdom, that State, I am told, has united with the city of Philadelphia to found and maintain a school of applied art, which cannot fail to be an incalculable good to the industries and the happiness of her people.

Depending upon individual contributions, Boston and New York must struggle far behind, and finally dwindle away.

We need, in every great industrial centre, a "Council on Instruction," which shall provide models of art-work, and teaching enough to make these models plain to industrial seekers.

We have tried free schools, free trade, free press, and no one is happy. I pray we may for a century fairly and fully try household art: that is the art which shall make the home the most attractive place on this footstool of heaven.

In this work all sects and sexes may unite. Every man and woman can and will agree that his or her home shall be a page from the book of paradise; one on which they can write, and one from which all may read.

According to the best authorities we are able to get, we conclude that the Japanese have from the earliest days been great potters, and that the Chinese discovery of porcelain was carried to Japan probably in the century before our era.

It appears from the researches of Dr. Hoffman, of Holland, that in 662 a Buddhist monk introduced the secrets of translucent porcelain into the province of Idsoumi, and a village then became famous as _To-ki-moura_, "village for making porcelain."

In the year 859 the two provinces of Idsoumi and Kavatsi went into a violent quarrel over a mountain which contained clay and firewood.

But the vast wants of such a tasteful and teeming people as the Japanese advanced this most useful and beautiful industry until the time of Katosiro (in the 1200's), when it went forward to perfection, and rivaled or excelled the best work of China.

In later years the great centre of porcelain-production has been the island of Kiushiu.

Upon the Idsoumi-yoma (or Mountain of Springs), where was found the kaolinic clay, Dr. Hoffman numbers some five-and-twenty shops famous for porcelains.

From the recent work of Messrs. Audesley and Bowes, it seems that the province of Hizen has produced the finest examples of Japanese porcelain. The first number of this work has just reached us, and gives great promise. The authors are Mr. George Ashdown Audesley, architect, and James Lord Bowes, President of the Liverpool Art Club. No work upon the ceramic art has appeared superior to this, especially in its decorations.

While the fine, delicate perception and touch of the Japanese have given an added grace and finish to most of their work, as a whole their porcelain may be said to be a following (rather than a copying) of the Chinese: in China porcelain was indigenous; in Japan it was an importation. In China, then, we shall find more original invention and greater variety; in Japan, more finish. The best work of Japan is often superior in the paste and in the glaze to the Chinese. As to classification, it is found that the two styles of China porcelain called "The Chrysanthemo-Pæonienne" and "The Famille-Rose" are the two which most prevail in Japan; and it is not easy to distinguish the fine work of the one country from that of the other.

In the rose family is to be found much of the best work of Japan. In Figs. 115 and 116 are two good examples of this work.

The "Famille-Vert," or green, was not made there.

We cannot do better than to quote from Jacquemart:

"A radical difference separates the two countries as regards drawing. At Niphon the figures, though affected, and too much resembling each other not to be the produce of 'pouncing,' have a simple grace and softness, the evident reflex of Oriental manners. Certainly, it is not an imitation of Nature; it is not art, such as we understand it, with its complex qualities; but it is a dreamy act, a first manifestation of thought under form. A scene of frequent occurrence represents two women standing, one upon a rose, the other upon a leaf, and thus floating upon the waves in an aureole of clouds: the first, elegantly attired, holds a sceptre; the second is her attendant, and carries a basket of flowers passed through a kind of lance or instrument for ploughing. According to the indications of the Japanese Pantheon, it is the goddess of the seas or patroness of fishermen. It matters little which it may be; but, by the modest grace of the attitude, the easy elegance of the draperies, this painting approaches the graceful vellums of our artists of the middle ages. The birds and plants partake of these merits, and are truthfully drawn, the details most delicately rendered. Nothing is more beautiful than these venerated silver pheasants, the proud-looking cocks perched upon the rocks or lost among the flowers; nothing more charming than certain crested blackbirds with rose-colored breasts, and other passerine birds of beautiful plumage."

While it is true that the Japanese flower-painting approaches nearer to Nature than the Chinese, it does not seem correct to say that it approaches to, or is, a copy of Nature. It is difficult to see anything which is not treated freely and strongly rather than naturally.

Some of the decorations peculiar to Japan may be mentioned as follows:

The kiri, or flower of the paulownia.

The imperial _three_-clawed dragon.

The noble bird.

The sacred tortoise.

The pine, the bamboo, and

The crane.

The crane and the tortoise are emblems of longevity.

Two marks were the official signs of the Mikado: first, the kiri-mon, or flower of the paulownia; and, second, the guik-mon, or chrysanthemum; while to the temporal prince, or Siogoun, belonged the three-leaved mallow.

The vase here given (Fig. 117), from Mr. Avery's collection in the New York Museum of Art, is a good illustration of the way the Japanese used natural forms artistically rather than naturally.

The description is as follows:

"VASE, of elegant form, a ground of white, a branch of a tree in violet color running around the body, from which depend the fruit and flowers of the peach of longevity in rich colors. Storks delicately outlined in black, their bodies being filled in with dead-white enamel, peck at the fruit or blossoms, or disport through the air. The neck is ornamented with a band of yellow, scrolls, fruit, bats, and _honorific_ designs."

We give in Fig. 118 a bottle of square form painted delicately on each side with groups of figures, most likely representing incidents in Japanese history. It is a fine example from Mr. Avery's collection. The colors are green, blue, and yellow, and are very rich and harmonious.

A style of decoration found among the Japanese rather than the Chinese might be described as a sort of medallion-painting: the round spaces are distributed over the pot regardless of symmetry, and the effect is charming. Fig. 119 shows one of these, belonging to Mrs. Rockwell, of Boston. It is modern work, and, while not expensive, is very satisfactory. An impression prevails that it is very creditable to pay dear for and to own antique work--not so modern work. But, if we are to do any good ourselves, we must believe in our own modern work when we can, and be glad to buy and pay for it. Also, we must praise our artists. Let us do so, and let us not forget that what is old and good now was once _new_ and good; none the less good because it was new.

The Japanese blue is exquisite, certainly, but it lacks the deep vivid brilliancy of the Nanking. It is believed that the blue is applied over the glaze, and it has a melting softness which is most pleasing. Many of these pieces bear the six marks, as with the Chinese.

Another blue, which is a deep or mazarin color incorrectly called "celestial," is quite a different thing, but very choice and beautiful. The color is applied as an enamel, and in relief, and with wonderful skill. I have never seen any pieces of this which were supposed to date far back; and it is certain that it is among the fine productions of to-day, but none the less beautiful for that.

A porcelain with very marked decoration and coloring has been somewhat of a puzzle, and has been called Indian, being so very distinct from anything produced in China. Jacquemart thus describes it:

"A particular decoration which we call variegated-leaved is very brilliant, and might have found grace even in the eyes of the Puritan Wagenaar. The principal subject is a group of pointed leaves, some in blue under the glaze; others of a pale green, or of a pink and yellow enameled; at the base of the tuft expands a large ornamental flower, with notched pink petals lined with yellow; the heart, forming a centre, is yellow or greenish streaked with pink; notwithstanding the indentations which overload it, it is easy to recognize the flower as an anona or custard-apple. The leaves would lead one to suppose them, by their form and size, to be those of a chestnut-tree, while their color recalls the tricolor plane-tree so beloved by the Orientals, and which decks itself with tufts, varying from light green to red, passing through the intermediary tints. Behind these leaves, and upon the edge of the pieces, appear light and delicate small enameled flowers of iron-red, yellow, rose, or blue." (Fig. 120.)

This porcelain was made in Japan, and was brought by the Dutch into Europe at a time when their trade was so great. The Dutch East India Company was formed in 1602. In the year 1664, forty-four thousand nine hundred and forty-three pieces of rare porcelain were carried into Holland from Japan, and sixteen thousand five hundred and eighty pieces of the same work were sent from Batavia.

In some way not known, this peculiar work has been called "Indian." I found two pieces of it in Holland, one of which is in Mr. Wales's collection, and one piece, my own, is figured here. It is not easy to see anything more perfect.

The Japanese have excelled also in the production of "crackle," also of the "egg-shell" porcelain, neither of which differs enough from the Chinese to need description.

In the loan collection at New York is to be seen a crackled bottle, which has broad bands running around it, that are not crackled. More remarkable than this is a crackle vase belonging to Mr. H. Dwight Williams, which contains reclining figures delicately painted, that are not crackled. Technical skill can go no further, it would seem.

The Japanese lacquer far exceeds anything made in China, and is among the most beautiful of human work. We know but little of the processes of its manufacture, and only introduce it here because the Japanese have applied it to the decoration of porcelain. Very charming and surprising effects are produced. The lacquer is laid on as a varnish made from some vegetable gum or gums, but in what way or how applied we know not. It is exceedingly hard and durable, and takes a variety of colors exquisitely. It is applied mostly to wood, sometimes to porcelain.

Mr. George James, of Nahant, has a very fine porcelain figure which is finished with lacquer.

"_Cloisonné_" work applied to porcelain has been made in Japan. How the delicate metal lines can be fastened to the surface of the porcelain, and how the vitrifiable colors can be melted into the spaces with such perfection, can never fail to surprise. To see such perfect and delicate workmanship is a satisfaction: what pleasure must the artist himself not enjoy!

The "mandarin china" (Fig. 121), as it is termed, was made in Japan rather than in China. This term is applied to such vases and pieces as bear the figures of mandarins wearing the toque or cap topped with the button which marks their grade. It appears that the Thsing conquerors, when they overcame the Ming dynasty in China, attempted to efface the old customs and dress, and among other things they ordered was the adoption of the toque or cap. Hence, to protest against their conquerors, no such designs appear on the old Chinese porcelain; but only on the Japanese, which was carried to China and sold.[13]

This variety is not to be confounded with a gayly-colored kind of heavy porcelain made in China, which often goes under the name of mandarin.

On this Japanese mandarin-ware, gilding is likely to be found, and indeed the Japanese were much more inclined to its use than the Chinese.

European and Christian subjects were sometimes painted upon the Japanese porcelain to meet the wants of the Dutch exporters. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art at New York are some of these pieces belonging to Mr. Avery's collection: one has a portrait of Luther; another has the baptism of Christ, another a Dutch landscape with figures. They are most curious, and upon the Scripture subjects hangs a tale:

As early as 1534 we know that the Portuguese had established a trade with Japan, and, with the aggressive spirit of all Occidentals, had attempted to introduce their religion into Japan, against the usages and prejudices of the Japanese, which were potent then. They pushed it to an irritating point, and it is asserted that their meddling with the decorations in the porcelain factories at last led to their expulsion, and to the massacre and destruction of some forty thousand of their Christian converts in 1641.

The Dutch then persuaded the Japanese to allow them the privileges of trade, which they held for some two hundred years; and it is through them that most of our fine examples have been brought to Europe and here.

Besides the porcelain productions of Japan are two varieties of pottery or faience, which are remarkable for richness of color and decoration: the one is called "KAGA WARE," the other "SATSUMA," from the districts where they are produced. Most of the Kaga ware brought to us is of a thick, heavy body, and colored with a dark sort of Indian-red, touched with lines of gilding. Some of the finer specimens, however, like the vases shown in the recent work of Messrs. Audesley and Bowes, are in polychrome, and very beautiful.

The Satsuma faience is made of a rich, creamy paste, and is thicker than most porcelain; but it is delicious in tone and delightful in decoration. There are a few pieces in this country; and more, but not large quantities, in Europe. Some of the finest pieces I have seen are in the collection of the eminent English artist, Mr. Frederick Leighton, whose house, as well as works, can only give pleasure.

The old Satsuma has peculiarities which, added to its rarity, make it exceedingly valuable and desirable.

Fig. 122 is one of the pieces pictured in the Audesley-Bowes book, as an example of the old Satsuma, and is very curious in form.

The modern Satsuma is much of it very beautiful, but of course it commands no such prices as the older. Most of it shows the glaze broken throughout into a most delicate network of crackle, which is peculiar and interesting.

The small teapot here shown is not only perfect in tone, glaze, and decoration, but also in form. It is modern work, and was imported by Mr. Briggs, of Boston. (Fig. 123.)

Mr. Franks thus writes: "The princes of Satsuma have founded a manufactory from which have issued some very remarkable products, much esteemed by collectors; the paste is of a pale yellowish tint, not unlike Wedgwood's queen's-ware in color, and is slightly crackled; over this are thrown sprays of plants, with rich diapered borders, the effect of which is enhanced by the delicacy of the colors and the richness of the gilding. This ware is probably not very ancient. Mr. A. B. Mitford has informed me that he does not remember seeing any specimens more than fifty years old, and that the oldest were undecorated.

"Another beautiful ware is that made near Kioto, in which the colors are much stronger, and the paste of a darker tint. Some of the specimens seem to be of considerable antiquity.

"At Kutani (the Nine Valleys), in the province of Kaga, is made another fine ware, some of which appears to be porcelain. The most characteristic products of this factory are bowls and dishes decorated only in red with gilding.

"Another peculiar fabric has produced very thin teapots of a gray stone-ware, showing the marks of the workman's hands. Mr. Mitford has furnished me with the following note respecting them: 'For some thirty years past a man named Banko Insetzu, of Kuana, in the province of Isé, has been famous for producing a curious kind of pottery, which, being finished off with the finger and thumb before being subjected to the fire, shows the lines of the skin of the hand upon its surface. No teapots equal those of Banko for producing a delicate infusion of tea, and all lovers of tea patronize them; they are fragile to a degree, the paste being as thin as a wafer.'"

The peach, or, as the Japanese term it, the "peach of longevity," is a favorite decoration with the Japanese; we can appreciate its value, as one of the finest fruits of our temperate zone. We give here (Fig. 124) a teapot showing the fruit with some of the leaves. This is copied from Jacquemart; but the curious may see a better example at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, from Mr. Avery's Oriental collection.

Japanese art is still more marked than the Chinese in that it is as free and yet more delicate. The artist clearly was a close observer of Nature, and saw and felt its infinite variety; saw, too, that Nature was never square, or round, or double. Nothing in Nature need duplicate any other thing.

We Occidentals have delighted in the use of--

The square,

The circle, and

Of pairs, or a symmetrical arrangement of ornament, or of columns, or openings.

We have also found a crude satisfaction in the use of strong, glaring colors.

We have delighted to _copy_ and to tell a common story in a common way in our decorations.

I believe this is wholly wrong. The Japanese artist never uses the square, or the circle, or the pair.

Nor does he use crude and glaring colors; always the most subtile and fascinating shades and vanishing tints.

He _suggests_ the story; he never tells it as Watteau did.

A pair of vases belonging to Mrs. James, of Cambridge, have a picture of a gentleman and lady, above whose heads is seen a canopy or roof. The meaning is thus explained by a Japanese gentleman of this day, who was in Boston:

The figures represented are a nobleman and his wife, one of the five hundred families of the _flowery class_; they are dressed in the ancient costume of Japan, now no longer worn.

The part of a tent or pavilion indicates that they are out-of-doors, at a picnic; the white blossoms of the cherry which surround them show a favorite tree in Japan; the color of this vase and the kind of crackle prove its age.

All is suggested; the imagination is spoken to, not the intellect; the artist feels, and makes us feel.

We are forcing ourselves and our civilization upon the Japanese who do not want us, and we curse them. We have attacked the simplicity of their lives, we shall increase their immorality, and we shall degrade their art. Twenty years hence, artistic and patient work will have disappeared from among them.

Good work has almost disappeared from among us, as well as from Europe: we do all in a hurry, all for cheapness, all for money. The artist, the workman, delight no more in _perfect work_, which is Godlike.

"Progress," they tell us, requires us to force the Japanese to trade with us. It is a much-abused word; in the hands of plunderers and traders it means only--"You shall give us the opportunity to cheat you." We have demanded that, and have succeeded; but we shall be none the better for it, and the Japanese will be the worse. They will learn, do learn fast, to cheat back; and already we see signs of it in their demoralized productions. They are already making copies--counterfeits of some of the high-priced porcelains of China--and putting on these the marks intended to deceive.

Fools say, "Trade is a blessing;" wise men, "It is oftener a curse." Honest, faithful production _is_ a blessing; juggling, barter, _is_ always a curse.

In the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia the Japanese had the largest and the finest exhibit of porcelain. We were told by the officials that there are at Hizen some five factories of fictile wares; at Kioto, ten; at Owari, three; at Kaga, five; at Satsuma, one; at Banko, one; and at Tokio (Yedo), forty-three. This last statement was a surprise, but it was reiterated.

The porcelains of Hizen rank first, and the exhibit from there was the largest. The two great vases, some eight feet high, of lacquer or porcelain, were the largest pieces of potter's work we had ever seen, and they seemed cheap at twenty-five hundred dollars. In the middle part of the two great cases were two small tea-sets of some five pieces each, which were the finest of porcelain in all particulars, and yet no one bought them at one hundred and thirty dollars each; not even the Philadelphia Museum, which showed a marvelous skill in selecting the best. There were also quite a number of excellent pots and vases, from which Mr. Brown secured a very desirable pair, sage-green with white bands containing grotesque designs.

It was to be expected that the Chinese and the Japanese, if they made an exhibit at all, would take the places of honor. This they have done for quantity, and the Japanese do so for quality also.

The Owari porcelain is mostly the blue. The body or paste seemed clear, but there was a want of good form and superiority of coloring and decoration. Some excellent and striking pieces could be found here. But, so far as one visit could reveal, there was nothing equal to the old six-mark blue.

The Kioto is a faience of a weaker body than the Satsuma, and running more to a lemon-yellow. Its decoration is marked by a certain delicacy which in small articles is good, but which in large ones lacks strength. Shimzi, of Kioto, had a case of good pieces.

Meyagama, of Yokohama, had some delightful porcelain vases, decorated in relief with butterflies, plants, etc., which, it is satisfactory to know, were bought by our New York friends.

The case of old wares shown by Kiriu Kosho Kuwaisha, from Tokio, contained a collection which had a kind of mysterious fascination even to us "outside barbarians," which we suppose might have become an intense desire to possess, could we have known anything about them.