Porcelain

by Edward Dillon

In composition the paste of the Owari porcelain is much closer to the normal type than that of the Hizen wares ([see note, p. 190]). Of late years the Owari potters have succeeded in turning out pieces of unprecedented size, in the shape especially of dishes and of slabs for the tops of tables. From the artistic side, however, little can be said in favour of this ware: the blue is generally crude in quality, often resembling that found on the commoner European porcelain of later days.

Another art was revived some years ago in the neighbourhood of Nagoya, the chief town of this district—I mean that of enamelling in metallic cloisons (the Shipô, or ‘seven treasures’ of the Japanese), and of late years the two industries have been combined by applying the metallic cloisons and the enamel to the surface of porcelain. A similar ware has also been made at Kioto, but in this case the soft fayence of Awata has been used as a base. Enormous quantities of both these varieties of cloisonné have been brought to Europe, and when we consider the amount of skilled labour required in the manufacture, we can only marvel at the prices for which this ware is retailed in London.

Much of the cheap Japanese blue and white sold in Europe comes from this Owari district, but of late years more ambitious things have been attempted there—monochrome glazes of the grand feu, including a curious variety of flambé ware with a chocolate-coloured ground.

Kutani Ware.—There only remains one important centre of porcelain manufacture for us to describe. This lies far away among the mountains that skirt the western coast of Japan. The feudal lords of that country, however, the princes of Kaga, were reputed to be the most wealthy of all the daimios of Japan. A junior branch of this family, the lords of Daichoji, as early as the first half of the seventeenth century established a kiln at the mountain village of Kutani. In the year 1660 an emissary was despatched to Hizen to spy out the land and learn what he could of the new processes lately introduced there. The story of his difficulties is only another version of that told of Tamakichi, the Seto potter. After many adventures, abandoning the wife that he had been forced to marry at Arita and the child he had had by her, he returned to Kaga, equipped with the desired information and experience. He succeeded in making a true porcelain with a white ground, decorated in a style founded, it is said, both on the contemporary Hizen ware and on the enamelled stoneware of Kochi. Morikaga, a famous artist of Kioto, was retained to furnish designs for the decoration. We have in the British Museum a spherical vase, painted in the five colours with a series of spirited figures, which may well date from that time ([Pl. xxvi].). Examples of this period are rare, but some of the old drug-pots, jealously guarded by their owners, that were still, a few years ago, to be seen in the druggists’ and herbalists’ shops of Osaka and Sakai, may perhaps be traced back to the potters of the seventeenth century, either those of Kaga or those of Hizen. At this time, in fact, the Kaga ware had hardly differentiated itself from that of the parent province. It was not till the beginning of the eighteenth century that the typical Kutani ware, one of the most original and decorative ever turned out from Japanese kilns, was produced.

On a greyish paste, hardly to be reckoned as porcelain, the lustrous, full-bodied enamels, almost unctuous in quality, are laid with a full brush. The whole surface is generally covered, and a dark, juicy green is the prevailing colour, over which a design of black lines is drawn. Next in importance among the enamels there comes first purple, then a heavy blue enamel which somewhat clashes with the other colours, and finally a full-toned yellow. It would seem from Japanese accounts that this kind of ware was not made after 1730, when there ensued a period of decay, but it is difficult to believe the statement that the manufacture was not revived till 1810. The picturesquely decorated bowls

PLATE XXVI. JAPANESE, KAGA WARE

and plates showing the greyish ground are probably later than those wholly covered with the green enamel, and it might be possible to trace the date of introduction of fresh means of decoration—gilding skilfully and boldly applied or the use of white enamel in relief, especially for the petals of flowers. Later, but still on ware of fine decorative effect, we find these white petals tinged with pink, and this apparently is the earliest appearance of the rouge d’or among Japanese enamels.

When did this new colour come in, and from what source? We may perhaps associate its first use with the wonderful period, early in the nineteenth century, of which we have already spoken, when all the restraints to which the Japanese artist had been so long subjected were removed, the crabbed critic with his tradition of Ming times was silenced, and a free rein at length given to native exuberance in the use of gay colours and naturalistic designs. But this was the end; as in the other arts, a period of decline set in before the middle of the century, a decline that was accelerated, but not first originated, by the throwing open of the country to European influences a few years later.