Temple Vases and Ornaments.
The mystical beliefs of China are chiefly Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, to which should be added ancestor worship, and in connection with all of them there are special objects of veneration, which we group together under the somewhat generic term of "temple relics."
FIG. 75.—JAPANESE RITUAL VASE. FIG. 77.—CIRCULAR VASE ON STAND.
FIG. 76.—SMALL TWO-HANDLED RITUAL VASE.
From Japan as well as China we get many fine temple sets. Whence come they? some may ask. Perhaps they have been discarded because they have been replaced with newer or more elaborate ornaments, although they may have been obtained through the cupidity of some of the temple attendants. From whatever sources they came there are numerous examples in the London curio-shops and in our museums. The crane and tortoise have long been held in veneration in Japan. The tortoise especially is frequently found on old Chinese pottery and metal-work, as well as being fashioned in Corea and Japan. In Fig. 74 there is a Japanese pricket candlestick, in the form of a crane and tortoise, of eighteenth-century workmanship, and it evidently formed one of a set of five altar pieces. Some of the altar sets gave special prominence to two flower vases as part of the set, of somewhat later style of decoration to Fig. 90; it was probably made early in the nineteenth century. This vase was formerly used in a set in which a figure of Buddha occupied the centre. It was a common practice to hang over the Buddhist altars lamps, many of which are to be seen in our museums. In Fig. 75 is shown a Japanese ritual vase, intended for wine (hu); it is of square shape, with cover of Kwei and dragon pattern, animal feet and bosses on the shoulders, and bird-shaped arris on the lid, the inside of which is inscribed with twelve characters; the patina of this vessel ranges from deep brown to bright malachite-green. Fig. 76 is a smaller ritual vessel, with two handles at the shoulder and one meander band and knob. The vase shown in Fig. 77, with dragon handles, a beautifully patinated specimen, shading from brown to red with green accretions, is a ritual tsui or vase for offering corn. These remarkable relics formed part of a large collection dispersed recently at a well-known London salesroom. Now and then less important pieces come under the hammer, and it is by no means difficult to secure for a small outlay an excellent representative collection of these deeply interesting objects associated with idol worship.
XV
NATIVE
METAL-WORK
CHAPTER XV
NATIVE METAL-WORK
Outside influences—Benin bronzes—Other African curios.
There are few collections of copper and brass without a fair sprinkling of curiously formed and often crude objects which we class under the generic term "native curios." There is much that is of extreme interest in the work of the smiths and founders of races possessing but little apparent touch with civilized nations; for such metal objects are true guides to the state of the advancement of the peoples of the countries from which such curios come. We delight in the art of early Eastern nations, and find much to admire in the almost barbaric ornament of Asiatic metal-workers of mediæval and even later days, as counted by the progress made by European artists at contemporary dates. The marvellous skill with which the natives of India and other Asiatic countries incised and inlaid their metal wares has already been pointed out. There is, however, an especial charm about the metal-work of nations we are apt to class as "savage," or at least untutored, if not uncivilized. And we would not have it otherwise, for it is from these curios—metal and of other materials—that we are enabled to trace the influences of other countries with whom those races or tribes have had dealings in the past. We are to some extent able from these antiquities to connect the links in the chain of nations, and from the characteristics of their art (?) to settle their origin and affinity to other races.