It would, of course, be impossible for me to attempt in detail a
description of the other very numerous ceramic wares of Japan.
Undoubtedly, as I have said, Satsuma is the most popular with
Europeans, but it is not, and I do not think it deserves to be, the
most highly prized by art connoisseurs. The ceramic wares of Japan may
be classified under three headings: (1) Pottery, ornamented by
scoring and glazing; (2) A cream-coloured faience with a glaze often
crackled and delicately painted; (3) Hard porcelain. Under the first
of these classifications may be included Bizen, Seto, Raku, and some
other wares. Under the second I place Satsuma and some less important
similar products. Among the porcelains the most famous are those of
Kutania, Hizen, and Kyoto. In regard to decorations, the Japanese have
utilised the seven gods of good fortune, many landscapes, a few of the
domestic animals--the dragon, phoenix, an animal with the body and
hoofs of a deer, the tail of a bull, and with a horn on its forehead,
a monster lion, and the sacred tortoise. Trees, plants, grasses, and
flowers of various kinds, and some of the badges in Japanese heraldry
are also largely made use of. However grotesque some of these objects
may be, or however grotesque the representations of animals and even
landscapes may be, no one who has closely studied it can deny the fact
that the effect of Japanese decorative art as applied to the ceramic
ware of the country is, on the whole, magnificent. The more one
studies it the more impressed one is with its marvellous beauty and
the originality which has been brought to bear upon it. I defy any man
or woman, who possesses the artistic sensibilities, even in a latent
degree, to visit a gallery containing the masterpieces of Japanese
ceramic art, closely study them in all their details, and minutely
examine the attention which the artist has given to even the smallest
of those details without being impressed by its power. It is, I
consider, a liberal education to any person who has the slightest
prepossession for art to wander through such a gallery and admire the
masterpieces of these wonderful art-workers of Japan.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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