Fig. 4, the kylin, is more like the unicorn. Its head resembles that of a dragon. Often its body is covered with scales, and its hoofs are cloven.
XXVIII
SATSUMA
POTTERY, &c.
CHAPTER XXVIII
SATSUMA POTTERY
Whilst in porcelain Japan copied Chinese patterns, in pottery native talent had full scope for its original and personal character, so ably shown both in shape and decoration. Amongst all the pottery Satsuma takes the first place; indeed, no collection is complete unless it has a specimen, although fine pieces are very rare. Much of what is called old Satsuma has been produced at Kyoto and Yokohama for export, and has very little in common with the ware so highly prized by collectors in Japan. Showy, brilliant, and decorative reproductions are met with frequently, but neither in paste or painting are they comparable. Real old Satsuma, at first sight, looks like ivory, and the designs display infinite care, the colours being low in tone, whilst the gold is pencilled with such a multitude of minute lines as to be truly wonderful.
The glazes are often enamelled; yellow and black, both remarkable, but exceedingly rare, are monochromes; so, too, is olive-green, which is seldom used alone, but in conjunction with a dark yellow or dark brown. Various articles, such as tea jars, teapots, and incense boxes, have usually these glazes. Another glaze, called "Flambées," or "Flammées," is like shot-silk, e.g., red jasper and violet, and violet and blue. The colouration, no doubt at first accidental, was later obtained by the combination of metals with the oxygen in the air and during the firing, so that the results were defined and certain.
The old potters confined their decorations to diapers, floral subjects, landscapes, and the Chinese subjects—the Ho-Ho birds, the mythical lion, the dragon, and the kylin.
Two kinds of pottery were made at Satsuma, and the self-glazes, either monochrome or flambée, are, for the most part, applied to the red, and not to the white kind. In other words, the paste or body of the piece is red, and by comparing a few specimens the difference between that and the white can soon be determined.
When the potter cuts the turned piece from the clay on the wheel he uses a string; and in Satsuma ware the string-mark can be detected on the bottom of the piece. Again, the Satsuma potter turned the throwing-wheel with the left foot, but other potters used the right; hence the spiral in the paste is from left to right in Satsuma, from right to left in other factories. Pure white faïence, cleverly moulded and reticulated, was a celebrated and favourite product of the ancient potters.
Spurious Satsuma is one of the most common and disfiguring features of both public and private collections.