Fig. 87.—Japanese Ancient Vase; circa B.C. 640.
Japanese ware is more interesting and more varied in design, though not so gaudy in appearance as the Chinese, owing to the higher sense of artistic feeling and individuality of the Japanese artists. The art, as seen in the ceramic productions as well as in most other things of Japanese art and design, was originally borrowed from the older nation of China and from the Coreans. From their keen sense of beauty, and also greater artistic power, the art products of the Japanese are superior to those of China.
The first glazed pottery made in Japan is supposed to date from the year 1230—this was made at Seto by Tôshiro, who had learnt the art in China, and the first porcelain just before the year 1513, for the maker of this early Japanese porcelain—Shonsui, a Chinese potter—had returned to China in that year.
Fig. 88.—Incense-Burner, Satsuma Ware; circa 1720.
Pottery of an inferior kind was made anterior to the Christian era, but probably the oldest known was made by the people who occupied the country before the present Japanese. The ancient vase (Fig. 87) is an example of this early ware. It is of a coarse kind of earthenware, baked or fired in a hole in the ground, over which and around the vessel was built a wood fire.
Fig. 89.—Incense-Burner, Arita Ware; circa 1710.
Japanese wares are of three kinds: the common stoneware ornamented with scratched lines and glazed; a crackled glazed ware with painted decorations; and the porcelain. The porcelain of Japan is first baked to the biscuit state, then the colours of the decoration are applied, and the piece is afterwards glazed, and is again fired at a greater heat. The gilding or enamel colours that may be required are put on afterwards, when a third firing at a lower temperature is necessary. The Japanese porcelain paste does not stand the firing so well as the Chinese, and consequently the pieces are often twisted and altered in shape.