The Collector's Handbook to Keramics of the Renaissance and Modern Periods Part 19

On his return, he made such important improvements in the composition and decoration of porcelain that henceforth it became superior in many instances to the Chinese, especially in the manufacture of the best specimens, upon which much time and labour were bestowed. The porcelain of j.a.pan is very much like that of China, but the colours are more brilliant on the fine pieces; it has a better finish, and the designs are more of the European character, the flowers, birds, &c., being more natural, and the ky-lins, dragons, and other monsters less hideous; the paste is of better quality and a purer white, especially in ware of the 17th and 18th centuries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 336.--SAKe CUP AND STAND. _Porcelain gold ornament on red ground._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 337.--STONEWARE JAR. _oto ware._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 338.--PORCELAIN VASE. _Kis.h.i.+n ware._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 339.--CANDLESTICK. _Tozan porcelain. Painted in blue._]

Perhaps the most beautiful of all the porcelain made in j.a.pan is the _egg sh.e.l.l_, so called because it is extremely thin and translucent, yet so compact that it can be formed into large vases, as well as plates and bowls or cups.

The small cups without saucers, which are usually placed upon _presentoirs_ of lac, are seldom painted on the exterior; but within is frequently found a fillet of gold, and slight sketches in blue or gold indicating the outline of a mountain, the sun, clouds, and a line of birds taking flight, or sometimes animals, all in outline. On other pieces are birds, flowers, and animals delicately painted in colours.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 340.--FLASK. _Satsuma ware._]

The art has been continued to the present day; those beautiful and extremely delicate cups and saucers, thin as paper, are frequently seen covered on the outside with a casing of bamboo threads woven together; the larger basins and covers are also made of equally thin porcelain.

All these are produced now, as they were in ancient times, at Imari, in the province of Hizen. It is not in the village itself that these manufactories are established, but as many as twenty-four or twenty-five are situated near the mountain of _Idsumi-yama_, whence the kaolin is obtained of which the vessels are made.

Crackle china was made in j.a.pan as well as in China from a very early period, and was frequently painted with flowers, landscapes, and birds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 341.--INCENSE-BURNER. _Imari porcelain. 18th century._]

According to the late Sir Augustus W. Franks, K.C.B., "the ceramic wares of j.a.pan exhibit great differences in their composition, texture, and appearance, but may be roughly cla.s.sed under three princ.i.p.al heads: (1) common pottery and stoneware, generally ornamented simply by scoring and glazing the surface; (2) a cream-coloured _faence_, with a glaze, often crackled and delicately painted in colours; (3) hard porcelain.

"To the first of these cla.s.ses belong the wares of Bizen, old Seto, s.h.i.+garaki, and other small fabrics, including the Raku wares. The princ.i.p.al factories of the second cla.s.s are Awata, Satsuma, and the recent imitations of the latter at ota and elsewhere. Among the porcelain, the coa.r.s.est is that made at Kutani, but the most celebrated fabrics are in the province of Hizen, at Seto in Owari, and Kiyomidzu near Kioto."

PERSIA, SYRIA, AND TURKEY

PERSIA

Siliceous-glazed wares were produced in Persia at a very early period, and the late Mr. C. Drury E. Fortnum, in his _Historical Treatise on Majolica_, states that the decoration by means of metallic l.u.s.tre was practised in that country in the course of the thirteenth century, if not long before. Gla.s.s-glazed bricks, tiles, and other wares, were made in Babylon at a remote period, as well as in a.s.syria and Egypt; and it is probable that the art of their manufacture spread into the surrounding countries.

The Persian ware is princ.i.p.ally decorated with blue and black. The l.u.s.tres are a rich orange gold, a dark copper colour, and a bra.s.s l.u.s.tre. The patterns upon the tiles and vases are similar, and consist of elegant arabesques, foliage, and ornamented flowers, more or less in imitation of nature. Among these we notice the tulip, the Indian pink, the rose, and other flowers. The tulip in Persia is the emblem of Affection, which is thus symbolised at the present day. The bowls and vases are sometimes ornamented with fabulous birds, gazelles, antelopes, hares, &c., mixed with scrolls and foliage. The forms include hemispherical and cylindrical cups, vases, and bowls on conical feet; common forms are a bottle with a very long neck, probably used to hold wine, and ewers and basins, the former like a bottle with handle and long spout, used especially for ablutions, the latter with a pierced cover. The tiles being mostly made to cover walls, form continuous arabesques when placed side by side. Chardin says of them, "In truth, nothing can be seen more lively or more brilliant than this sort of work, nor of equally fine design."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 342.--WALL TILE. _Glazed earthenware. 13th century._]

The Persian fayence was probably the same as the Gombroon ware, which was s.h.i.+pped by the English East India Company from a port of that name in the Persian Gulf, where they formed their first establishment about the year 1600, and whence the great bulk of Chinese porcelain was exported.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 343.--WATER-BOTTLE. _With metallic l.u.s.tre. 15th or 16th century._]

It has long been a _vexata quaestio_ whether porcelain was ever made in Persia; some say the idea is altogether chimerical, but M. Jacquemart endeavours to prove that both hard and soft porcelain were made at Iran, and has devoted three or four long chapters to the support of his theory (_Les Merveilles de la Ceramique_).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 344.--DISH FOR RICE.]

The nearest approach to porcelain in Persian ware is a sort of siliceous frit or fine stoneware, which possesses a very slight degree of translucency but is not true porcelain composed of kaolin and petuntse like Chinese porcelain. Small creamy white basins, with the sides pierced with slashes and filled with translucent glazes, are semi-translucent and have the appearance of porcelain.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 345.--ROSE-WATER SPRINKLER.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 346.--ROSE-WATER SPRINKLER.]

SYRIA AND TURKEY

Dr. Fortnum was of opinion that what is generally known as DAMASCUS ware was probably made not only in that city but at Constantinople, Broussa, and all the princ.i.p.al sites of manufacturing industry throughout Syria and Asia Minor. It is distinguished by the great brilliancy of its enamel colours, the princ.i.p.al of which are a deep lapis-lazuli blue, turquoise, a vivid emerald green, a brilliant red purple, orange or buff, olive green and black. The pieces consist princ.i.p.ally of circular dishes, jugs with long cylindrical necks and globular bodies, flasks, &c., and the best specimens were probably produced during the first half of the 16th century.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 347.--DAMASCUS PLATE. _Painted in colours._]

Remains of potteries are stated to have been found at Lindus on the Island of Rhodes, and at one period all the ware of Asia Minor was attributed to those works and was called Rhodian. The pottery actually manufactured there appears, however, to have been of a somewhat coa.r.s.er character than that made at Damascus and elsewhere. Richly painted tiles with diapering and conventional floral patterns under a vitreous glaze were used largely for the decoration of palaces, mosques, and tombs throughout Asia Minor and Syria; these tiles are also to be found at Constantinople.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 348.--DAMASCUS DISH.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 349.--RHODIAN PLATE.]